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INNOCENTS 
i?i?OM ABROAD.! 



St/ the Aut/tor of 

"TOM'S ."WIFE." 






NEW YORK: 



p. W. CaRLETON &■ Co., PUBLISHEI^S. || 



UNITED STATeS 

LIFE 
INSURANCE COMPANY, 

nr TEE OITY OF IfEW TOM, 

sei, so«, ses broadway. 

ORGANIZED I860 



JAMES BUELL, . President. 

ASSETS, - - - $4,846,032.64 
SURPLUS, - - - $800,000.00 

£very approved /'orin of jPolicy issued on most 
/'nrorabte terms. 



ALL ENDOWMENT POLICIES AND APPROVED CLAIMS 

MATURING IN 1878 

wi" be DISCOUNTED « '« 

on yRESEyTATION. 



HENRY W. BALD^VIN, 

Bupt. Middla Department. 
Pfficb : Prbxkl Poilding, cor. JIxl.i. and ^road ^ts., 

NEW YORK. 



AN ATTRACTIVE NEW BOOK. 

Just Published. 
Bv the Author of " Innocents from Abroad," 

TOM'S WIFE, 

AND HOW HE MANAGED HER. 

A Tale of many Tribulations. 

BY A MARRIED BACHELOR. 

Price 50 cents. 

" Needles and pins, needles and pins. 
When a man marries, his trouble begins." 

A delightful little book, quite the brightest thing 
of the day. Every married person ought to read it, if 
only to learn how beautifully Tom vumaged his wife. 

This little book, written with a most unusual 
freslmcss, naturalness and brilliancy, has already, 
by the sale of 10,000 copies within less than a week, 
proved a most decided success. 

Opinions of the Press. 

"'Tom's Wife' is one of those whole-souled jolly books, 
which everybody will read with delight. The title in itself is 
sufficient indication of what a rich feast of fun, and fear, and 
'fencing,' may be expected. The only objection to the work 
is, that after they have read it, the bachelor population will 
all get married."— /'/rj;. Itetyi. 

" ' Tom's Wipe ' is a good story and no mere trifle. It pos- 
sesses keen iniraor, andis composed in good style. The hero, 
contrasted with whom is, of course, a heroine, is a study in his 
way, and it; at limes immensely amusing. The author evi- 
dently kno\vs h(iw to i>aint a charming picture of domestic 
hapiiiness."— L'asYo/; Banner. 

" ' Tom's Wife, and How He Managed Her,' is a book in 
which many young husbands may lind traces of their own 
experience, "and a sharp delineation of some of their follies. 
It is a story w hich has a good moral to it, for it shows how 
permanent conjugal unhappiness may be born of a single 
unkind word, aiid how a man who yields to the temptation of 
a moment, may go swiftly downward toward utterly hopeless 
ruin."— PMa. Bulletin. 

!^" The book is beautifully printed and bound in 

cloth, price $1.00. Also a paper cover edition, 50 cts. 

Sold everywhere. Sent by mail on receipt of price. 

G. W. CARLETON & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

Madison Square, New York. 



INNOCENTS FROM ABEOAD. 



BY 

THE AUTHOR OF 



V'TOM'S WIFE." 



<&. 



•^ No...i<?/<5",/.!* 



.!l 



NEW YORK 

Copyright, 1878, by 



G. JV. Carleton & Co., Publishers. 



LONDON : S. LOW & CO. 
MDCCCLXXVIII. 



?r 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER FAGS 

I. Crossing the Big Pond 7 

n. An Escape From Sharks » 21 

ni. Adrift in Gotham *. 36 

IV. Cleaned Out 50 

V. The Bull-Fight 64 

VI. The Pedlar-and-Beggar-Bouncer 78 

VII. The Wearing op the Green 93 

Vin. Groping for the Truth 106 

IX. Have Mercy on Us Miserable Sinners 120 

X. The Idyls op the Ring 137 

XI. An Attack on the Devil 152 

Xn, Cataracts op Flaming Vengeance 165 

XIII. The Irrepressible Interviewer 183 

[V] 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XIV. Cupid Aims a Shaft 198 

XV. The Good Samaritan Taken In 214 

XVI. Alas ! Poor Yorick 228 

XVII. The Impostor Stands Exposed 241 








INNOCENTS FROM ABROAD. 



CHAPTER I. 



OEOSSING THE BIG POND. 




T was a tolerably pleasant, though 
rather windy, day in the early i)art 
of March, 1876, that the fine steamer 
"Asiatic," steering westward on the 
broad Atlantic, bounded along on her 
course toward New York. On the 
after x>art of the upper deck two 
gentlemen were making an earnest 
and determined effort to exercise 
their legs, but the difficulties under which they 
labored were really painf nl to witness. They were 
evidently father and son, as both had the same 
general cast of features, although the elder of the 
two was much darker than the other. They were 
manifestly landsmen, as their involuntary and uncer- 



8 CROSSING THE BIG POND. 

tain evolutions were such as would never have been 
indulged in by any accustomed to travel on the sea. 

Their usual serenity was at present much dis- 
turbed, as, holding desperately on to their hats and 
to each other, they sometimes scudded down steep 
declivities and anon mounted laboriously sharp 
ascents, while the great iron monster, propelled by 
a mysterious power, glided through the water, 
rising and writhing, like some huge serpent. But 
amidst all their troubles there was a tender familiar- 
ity between the two that was exceedingly charming, 
a loving respect from the young man toward his 
father, and a confiding admiration on the part of 
the parent toward his son. 

"The wind seems rising," said the elder, bend- 
ing his head and catching his breath. 

"Yes, indeed; it blows a gale," replied his 
companion, taking a fresh grip on his hat. 

"You see now, my son, how nature mocks the 
feeble efforts of man to control her forces. Here ! 
let us brace ourselves against this mast and rest a 
moment. This great iron ship, when we approached 
her in the harbor at Liverpool, as she appeared 
then, more than four hundred feet long and capable 
of carrying nearly five thousand tons burden, how 



CROSSING THE BIG FOND. 9 

immense ! liow immovable she seemed ! and yet you 
see now the veriest cork could scarcely be buffeted 
worse." 

"True," answered the young man. " Ha ! hold 
hard ! " he exclaimed suddenly, as a wave, striking 
the vessel squarely amidships, caused her to pause 
and quiver from stem to stern. 

Tlie older gentleman turned pale, not so much 
from fright, as from an internal agitation of a 
different kind. His breakfast had at that moment 
been seized with a most absurd ambition to rise in 
the world, and could not be kept down. Suddenly 
the two involuntarily left the mast, and made a most 
alarming bolt toward the side of the vessel. Bring- 
ing up with considerable force against the shrouds, 
the father at the after side, the young man at the 
forward, the former stood gasping, with his head 
thrust forth, while his whole frame heaved in con- 
vulsive agony. The son, unable to be of any assist- 
ance, clung to his parent in anxious, though sym- 
pathetic silence. 

"It is in vain for man to resist the elements," 
sighed the poor gentleman, in the intervals free 
from the returning paroxysms, as he dolefully wiped 
his eyes and mouth. 



lo CROSSIA'G THE BIG FOND. 

He was clinging to the slirouds with his left 
hand, and as in his action with his handkerchief he 
was forced to release his hat, that playful article 
suddenly bounded aloft with all the gayety of a 
young colt just let out to pasture. 

"Alas! too true!" exclaimed the young man, 
with a half smile, answering his father's last remark. 

The old gentleman, who seemed for a moment 
overwhelmed by his misfortunes, with his ample and 
beneA^olent brow bared to the blast, stood gazing up- 
ward in blank despair, as the unruly hat, whirled far 
above and made indistinct by distance, was now 
circling in eccentric evolutions around the main 
truck. It resembled, as nearly as anything, some 
new species of ocean fowl — the wild harbinger of 
a coming storm. 

"The sea is no respecter of persons, my son," 
said the parent, recovering himself at length. 
"Let us go below." 

The buffeted and badly-treated couple with 
uncertain steps sought the entrance to the cabin. 
They did not reach it, however, before describing 
many a strange curve and angle, many an involun- 
tary halt and i^recipitate start. Reach it, how- 
ever, they did at length, when stretching them- 



CROSSING THE BIG POND. ii 

selves flat upon their backs in their respective 
berths, they sought to alleviate, as much as pos- 
sible, the usual effect of an angry sea upon the sus- 
ceptible systems of landsmen. 

Seuor Alvarez, the elder of our two travelers, 
was born upon his father's extensive plantation in 
Brazil, in the province of Sao Paulo. His father, 
long since dead, was a Portugese gentleman, who 
had emigrated to the new world, with some money 
and a fine library. He had bought his plantation, 
established successfully the cultivation of coffee, 
become enamored with a beautiful Coromantine, 
his slave, whom he freed and married, and Pedro 
was the fruit of the union. A man of large ideas 
and extensive knowledge, the elder Alvarez had 
sought early to impress the same upon the eager 
mind of his son. 

Brought up, therefore, upon the borders of the 
Tropic of Capricorn, under the shadow of the luxu- 
riant orange groves, secluded both by inclination 
and necessity from any extensive communion with 
his equals, surrounded by books, the j'oung Pedro 
had early imbibed a desire for knowledge, and had 
been an extensive reader of the world's history. He 
had his theories of life and had formed his ideal of 



12 CROSSING THE BIG POND. 

men and things. His father had taught him 
French, and a young American lady whom he had 
happily married, had greatly assisted him to 
acquire English. 

The famous exclamation of Hamlet had always 
charmed him: "What a piece of work is man! 
How noble in reason ! how iniinite in faculties ! in 
form, and moving, how express and admirable ! in 
action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how 
like a god !" And a certain passage in one of the 
papers of the old Tatler, which his wife had 
pointed out to him, seemed to him to be particu- 
larly worthy of admiration: " I must confess there 
is nothing more jDleases me in all I read in books 
or see among mankind than such passages as repre- 
sent human nature in its proper dignity. The finest 
writers of antiquity have taken it on the more 
advantageous side. They cultivate the natural 
grandeur of the soul, raise in her a generous am- 
bition, feed her with hopes of immortality and 
perfection, and do all they can to widen the parti- 
tion between the virtuous and the vicious." 

The young man, Juan, was the only son born to 
him by his beloved wife, and him he labored hard 
to form after his own ideas. Quick-witted and 



CROSSING THE BIG POND. 13 

teachable, the handsome youth was quite as amia- 
ble as his father, while possessing a more buoyant 
disposition, and a keener sense of humor. His 
mother had died when he was a small boy, and hav- 
ing no one else to depend upon, a most loving attach- 
ment had grown up between his father and himself. 
Alvarez had long entertained the most exalted 
admiration for the United States, its people, its 
government, and its institutions. He was thor- 
oughly acquainted with its brief though remarkable 
history, and in his extensive reading, had formed a 
personal acquaintance, so to speak, with our great 
men of the past. He regarded the Declaration of 
Independence as the most wonderful of documents, 
not only for the principles it embodied, but for its 
masterly presentation of them, and frequently re- 
marked to his son that he would rather be the man 
that penned that instrument, even should he not be 
worth a milrea, than to be the undisputed owner of 
the vast estate left him by his father. The keynote 
of the paper, that "all men are created free and 
equal," seemed to make an especial impression 
upon him. Though the owner of slaves, and him- 
self the son of a favored freed woman, who had 
originally been brought from Africa, he seemed not 



14 CROSSING THE BIG POND. 

to take the colored race into consideration, by a 
strange inconsistency very similar to that of some 
of the celebrated signers to the document he so 
much admired. However, he was so kind-hearted 
himself, and treated his bondmen with so much 
consideration, that he never seemed to imagine that 
he was doing them, or any one else, any wrong. 

Alvarez, after teaching his son all that he could 
from books, resolved to set out on a tour with him, 
to see the actual world of which he knew very little 
himself. He had decided to make no extended trip 
through Europe before visiting the United States. 
He had conceived a deep admiration for our coun- 
try, and he had determined to see that first. Being 
forced to go to England in order to get by steamer 
to the land he was prepared to admire so much, he 
had remained there but a few days before embark- 
ing to recross the Atlantic. He had in his mind 
rather an extended purpose of going round the 
world, by the way of California, Japan, China, 
India, Egypt, Europe, and so on back to Brazil, but 
above all, and before all, he wished to see, and study, 
with his son, the great country formed by the Union 
of States. The enthusiasm of the father was only 
equalled by the glowing eagerness of the son. 



CROSSING THE BIG POND. 15 

A day or so out from Liverpool, the weather 
being pleasant and the sea smooth, Alvarez had 
given vent, in the smoking-room, to some of the 
admiration he felt for the land that gave birth to 
Washington, He w^as expatiating most eloquently 
upon the ingenuity, energy, and enterprise of the 
people, when the purser of the ship, a most intense 
and pugnacious Englishman, had burst into his the- 
ories with some startling facts. 

"Enterprising!" cried he. "Why, man, your 
own country should teach you better than that ! 
Your nation buys about a hundred millions in 
various goods from other countries, of which you 
get less than eight millions from the Yankees, 
while, at the same time, they have to come to you 
for over forty million of your produce. And this 
a]3plies to almost every other South American 
State. Besides this, you have had to ta]?:e a 
steamer to England to get to New York, and have 
embarked now on another English steamer to get 
across the Atlantic. Pshaw ! man, don' t talk 
about the Yankees, when they have no ships and 
not brains enough to get the trade which lies at 
their very doors." 

Alvarez was silenced by this unexpected present- 



1 6 CROSSING THE BIG POND. 

ation of things, and still more embarrassed when 
Juan pnt in : 

" How is that, my father \ Do not the Americans 
know liow to build steamers or to run them ?" 

" No nation better," answered he in some confu- 
sion. "They were the first to bring steam naviga- 
tion to perfection." 

The conversation ended there for that day, with 
the amiable Brazilian a little staggered, and Juan's 
curiosity greatly aroused. The enthusiasm of both, 
however, soon recovered, and they w^ere on a tiptoe 
of exjoectation to see the land they were so rapidly 
aj^lDroaching. 

After Alvarez and his son had descended to 
their stateroom on the day when we first made their 
acquaintance, the wind had continued to increase 
from the Northwest, and during the night blew a 
gale. By daylight it had decreased some, but the 
sky was still sullen and the waves ran high. On 
the morning of the second day, however, the wind 
had changed to the South and the sun came out 
cheerfully. The decks were soon bright with the 
passengers, glad to emerge from their confinement 
below. Brisk walking, pitching rings made of 
rope, going up the ratlins hand over hand, ^^ith 



CROSSING THE BIG FOND. 17 

many other trials of skill or strength, were now in 
order, and indulged in with mnch gay talking and 
laughter. 

Alvarez came forth at length, supported by his 
son. He looked much thinner, and his countenance 
was rendered more pale by the tight skull cap he 
wore, in place of the f el t hat so provokingly lost. 
The fresh air soon revived him a little, and the 
bright sun cheered him up. He began to feel him- 
self grow stronger and brighter at each turn he took 
in his walk. Suddenly he was nearly felled to the 
ground by a hearty clap on the back, while at the 
same time a good-natured voice cried out : 

"Ha! all right again, eh! Weathered it 
through, did you V 

Gasping for breath, and just able to stand in his 
weakened state, Alvarez turned to the party from 
whence this extremely cordial greeting came, and 
saw one of his fellow passengers with whom he had 
formed a slight acquaintance. 

" Keally, sir, your salutation being so unex- 
pected, I— I—" 

"Been pretty well shaken up, eh!" cried the 
other, a man of medium height, rather showily 
dressed, with a blazing diamond in his bosom, and 



1 8 CROSSING THE BIG FOND. 

having an independent, devil-may-care sort of way 
with him. " Reckon you haven't roughed it much, 
Colonel!" 

Though a little in doubt as to just what his fel- 
low passenger meant, Juan ventured to answer for 
his father, who had scarcely yet recovered his 
breath. 

" This is the first trip of any consequence," said 
he, "my father has ever made. We've lived on 
land all our lives." 

"Well, I thought so. I haven't, you see. My 
name is Wilkens, and I am a pure Yank — sitting 
still in one place is not my little game. I was 
spawned in Connecticut, born in Jersey, brought up 
in Kentuck, and have lived in every State in the 
Union." 

"You have been active," said Alvarez with a 
smile. 

" Well, I guess so. I was a sutler in our army 
for awhile, till uncle Ben Butler made it a little too 
warm for us, when I pulled up stakes and dug out. 
I run a gunboat on James River after that, but 
when old Lee caved, my services were no longer 
required." 

" Your experience has indeed been most remark- 



CROSSING THE BIG FOND. 19 

able," said the Brazilian, regarding Wilkens with 
increasing wonder. 

"I heard about the diamond fields in South 
Africa a year or so ago, so I headed for there. 
Scraped up a pocket full of the shiners, and I have 
just been driving some bargains with the Jews of 
Houndsditch. I'm afraid I've been a little too 
many for the children of Israel," and Wilkens gave 
the Brazilian a most knowing and expressive 
wink, as he took out his tobacco-box and rolled up 
an enormous quid.. 

The simple-minded gentleman began to regard 
him as a natural phenomenon. 

"I didn't get your name yet. Colonel," ex- 
claimed Wilkens, after a short pause, giving two or 
three scientific squirts of tobacco juice. 

"I am known at home as Pedro Alvarez," an- 
swered the other. 

" Gfood ! Hal Avery is good ! And this is a chip 
off the old block, I reckon." 

" Yes ! my son and myself are out on our 
travels to pick up a few ideas." 

"That's right, Hal! you're heading right. Get 
him over in the States ; we'll polish him up. We'll 



20 CROSSING THE BIG FOND. 

give him a rubbing that'll make him shine like a 
nigger's heel." 

After a little more conversation, the self-reliant 
Wilkens, who had all along adopted a manner 
toward Alvarez as if he had been an overgrown 
schoolboy, turned into the smoking room, and was 
soon earnestly engaged in a game of draw poker 
with an ambitious young Englishman. 




CHAPTER II. 



AN ESCAPE FEOM SHAEKS. 

HREE mornings afterward, when 
our travelers came on deck, they 
discovered land in the- distance, to 
the North. * Upon inqniry of the 
officer in charge of the watch, they 
ascertained that the ship was hug- 
ging the lower coast of Long Isl- 
and, and would probably sight the 
Highland Lights in the early after- 
noon. At the first view of the United States, how- 
ever distant and indistinct, all the enthusiasm of 
Alvarez was rekindled, and the eagerness of Juan 
knew no bounds. Glass in hand the father concen- 
trated his gaze u^jon every object, however minute, 
and was full of inquiry upon everything which in 
any way excited his curiosity. Wilkens was on 

[21] 




2 2 AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

hand to answer all questions and make any state- 
ment that the situation seemed to require. 

"That is Long Island, they tell me," said the 
Brazilian. 

"Certainly," answered the self-styled Yankee. 
" Don't you see how long it is ? " 

" No ; how long is it ? " 

"Well, I never measured it, but about a thou- 
sand mile, I reckon." 

" Indeed ! It contains some interesting places, 
I presume." 

' ' Oh, la, yes ! There' s South old and Cutchogue, 
Hunter's Pint and Cooney Island." 

" Strange names." 

" Yes, but stranger places !" 

" Your American duties are high, I am told; I 
suppose the officers are very strict." 

"Well, I guess so, Colonel. Have you got any 
friends over in the city that you have written to 
you're coming, and had 'em go and see the 
officer?" 

"I don't know a soul in the country." 

Wilkens gave a lugubrious whistle. 

"Well, my lad!" said he, "they'U Just go for 
you with a sharj) stick." 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 23 

"Why?" asked Alvarez in some alarm. "I 
haven't done anything." 

"That don't make any difference, greenhorn, 
whether you've done anything or got anything; 
they'll go through you from A to Z. Like enough 
they'll make you strip off and then take a piece of 
sand-paper and rub you down to find out whether 
you have concealed anything about you." 

" Santo Maria ! and this in a land of freedom !" 

"Oh! the boys like to show their zeal, you 
know, when they get a good chance. But have you 
got any new duds in your baggage ?" 

" Well, no, I can't say as I have," answered 
Alvarez. " I bought a half dozen new shirts in Lon- 
don which I haven't yet worn." 

" What ! brand new ! never had 'em on ?" 

"No, sir." 

"Why man! they'll be confiscated sure. You'd 
better bring 'em out here on deck and let us tramp 
around on 'em awhile, to take off the fresh look." 

Alvarez pondered on this proi^osition some time 
in considerable bewilderment, not knowing exactly 
what to do. He was inclined to place considerable 
reliance on the advice of Wilkens, as he judged him 
to be a man of shrewd practical common sense. 



24 AJV ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

After holding a long consultation with Juan, in 
Portugese, he concluded, however, to take his 
chances with his baggage as it was. 

Shortly after the twelve o'clock lunch the 
N'avesink Highlands were seen looming w^ in the 
distance, and in a half hour or so, the twin light- 
houses could be made out. Wilkens was busy 
getting up a pool based on the number of the pilot 
boat that should board the ship. There being 
twenty-two pilot boats belonging to the port, num- 
bered from one upward, it was proposed that an 
equal number of gentlemen should deposit a half 
crown each, selecting his boat, and the lucky man, 
whose selection proved correct, should ' ' scrape the 
]3ile." Two of the boats were already seen in the 
distance, one to windward, the other to leeward, 
making for the steamer. After getting his list of 
subscriptions filled up, Wilkens took in several 
small bets, as to which of the two boats already in 
sight should reach them first. Alvarez good- 
naturedly took a share in the pool, but declined to 
bet further. 

The steamer kept on her course, and the two 
boats rapidly neared her. After a while, however, 
the one to leeward, although having head start gave 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 25 

up the chase, and the other was quickly alongside. 
Wilkens was found to have made a double hit, he 
had won his outside bets, and the number of the 
boat likewise proved to be the lucky one in the 
pool which he had taken. Alvarez had come 
within one of it. 

" Just as the husband said about twins, when his 
wife presented him with a fine baby," remarked 
Wilkens, encouragingly. 

As the pilot came ujd over the side with his hand 
full of newspapers, a grand rush was made for him 
by the gentlemen passengers. Debarred from all 
news for a week or more, they all appeared to be 
starving for information. Wilkens didn't seem to 
care what was going on in the world, but paced 
backward and forward good-naturedly, clinking the 
accumulated half crowns in his pocket. 

"Is the harbor so dangerous that a pilot is an 
absolute necessity?" asked Alvarez. 

' ' Not at all, ' ' replied Wilkens. ' ' The channel is 
a little mite crooked, and a big ship can't get over 
the bar at low tide ; but there is not a captain, that 
has been in the port two or three times, but what 
can bring his vessel in just as good as a pilot." 



26 AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

" What do they take a pilot for, then ?" 

"They've got to. The pilots have got 'em 
where their hair's short. A vessel can't get any 
insurance unless they take a pilot. And the first 
pilot that boards a ship takes possession and 
brings her in." 

"Ah! I see." 

By this time they were close upon the coast. 

"You see that big steamer there ashore ?" asked 
Wilkens, pointing a little to the South' ard. 

" Yes ; what is she doing there ?" 

" Give it up ! She's the Ameriky." 

"How did she get there ?" 

" New York pilot. The pilot gets her on, and a 
Salvage Company gets her off, and everything is 
lovely all around." 

"Very singular!" exclaimed the Brazilian, a 
little puzzled at the matter-of-fact way in which his 
friend stated these things. 

"Turn your glass further South, a little way 
past the Long Branch Hotels there, and tell me 
•\vhat you see." 

Alvarez looked intently a few moments, and 
then exclaimed : 

"By San Paulo! another large steamer." 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 27 

"Exactly." 

" Well, how did she get there — another pilot?" 

" Some say so. I won't." 

"Well, indeed! The ways of Providence are 
mysterious !" 

"Yes, but some of the ways of the Yanks are 
more so." 

Alvarez, being half inclined to admit this latter 
fact, resumed his glass. Approaching land from 
the east, the Highlands seemed to slope down 
directly to the ocean, with a narrow sandy strip at 
their feet. As the ship neared the bar the pilot 
said there was not yet water enough for her to 
cross, and so she was forced to tack backward and 
forward, an hour or so, to await the movement of 
the tide. Finally she headed up the channel, and 
as she rounded Sandy Hook, and stood up the 
lower bay, Alvarez was surprised to discover quite a 
large river, separating the strip of sand from the 
high ground beyond. His friend Wilkens informed 
him it was the Shrewsbury. As they jDassed the 
ruins of a large fort at the point of the sandy cape, 
the Brazilian had recourse again to his friend. 

"These must be very old," said he, pointing to 
the ruins. 



28 AN ESCAPE EROM SHARKS. 

"Not at all, Colonel. Only a few years since it 
was started." 

"What's the matter, then?" 

"Abandoned. Sj^ent a few millions and then 
let her slide. Foundation not found solid." 

"Why didn't they investigate that before com- 
mencing the work?" 

"Got me again. Colonel. Give it up." 

Thinking the Americans must have some theory 
of doing things of which they only knew the secret, 
Alvarez asked no more questions, but continued 
with his son to be on the qui mm for anything of 
interest. 

While the ship was proceeding up the Bay, the 
purser furnished the passengers with blanks, upon 
which to set foi-th a full statement of their bag- 
gage, number of packages, contents and so on. As 
our two travelers were laboriously and anxiously 
studying this iDaper in their state-room Wilkens 
came along. Upon inquiry as to how he had written 
his, he pulled it out of his pocket all crumpled up 
with a lot of other papers. 

"There she is, Colonel, I intend to take it 
home and have it framed." 

"But how will you pass your baggage, then ?" 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 29 

Wilkens made no answer, but gave one of Ms 
most surprising winks and passed on. 

As the great steamer passed through the Nar- 
rows, it was growing quite dark. She was boarded 
at the same time by the health officer and custom- 
house official, the former of which, after a few 
casual questions and a slight show of examination, 
went ashore. 

The gentleman representing the customs de- 
partment took his seat in the cabin and had 
the passengers, like culprits, approach in a line 
with their documents one by one. Alvarez took 
his place with fear and trembling. He had 
made his statement out with the most scrupulous 
care, and being much in doubt about that half- 
dozen shirts had put them under the head of duti- 
able articles. He was a simi)le man in his habits 
and dress, and had instilled the same ideas into the 
mind of his son. Their entire baggage consisted of 
but a trunk between them and a satchel apiece. 
Wilkens was just ahead in the line, moving up in 
his free-and-easy way. When it came to his turn, 
he took the officer by the hand and gave him a 
hearty shaking up. 

" Brown, my lad ! how is it going ?" 



30 AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

"Well, sir! quite well! But really you have 
the advantage." 

"Wilkens — Jim Wilkens. That's my name. 
You haven't forgotten me, have you ?" 

' ' Wilkens ! ah, no ! here' s a letter for you, Mr, 
Wilkens. Step one side." 

The gentleman addressed gave one of his usual 
knowing glances to Alvarez, as he stepped out of the 
line and took a seat. So much time had elapsed 
before the officer was through, that he said it was 
too late to pass any baggage that night. The cap- 
tain concluded, as they had dropped anchor for the 
health officer, to remain down in the Bay till morn- 
ing, before steaming up to the dock. The custom- 
house officer, however, offered to take anyone uj) to 
the city, without baggage, that had any si^ecial 
desire to go and spend the night. Wilkens and 
some others availed themselves of this opportunity 
and stepped aboard the tug-boat in waiting. 

Juan paced the deck with his father after night- 
fall and gazed earnestly at the great array of lights 
gleaming in the distance. The long pointed lines of 
New York stretching far down into the Bay, with 
the semi-circular curve of Brooklyn on one side and 
the lesser lights of Jersey City on the other. Their 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 31 

hearts were too full for utterance. The goal was 
now within their reach. This was the land toward 
which they had strained their eyes so long. This 
the nation, founded by the vu'tue of Washington, 
the genius of Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton and 
theii' associates, that Alvarez had taught his son to 
look for that perfection in institutions, that honor 
and industry among the people to which other 
countries could lay no claim. 

Morning broke rather dull, as the steamer got 
under way and slowly proceeded up toward her 
wharf on the Hudson river. As the hills were bleak 
and bare, the line harbor did not show to advan- 
tage, but our travelers, being prepared to admire 
everything, readily admitted its natural advanta- 
ges, and agreed it surj)assed even their own bay 
at Rio Janeiro. At length the great ship, after 
many laborious maneuvers, was made fast to the 
wharf, at that time filled with eager friends and 
numerous deputy inspectors. The eyes of the latter 
gentlemen glistened like those of vultures are sup- 
posed to do when they sight a fallen carcass. 

The covered dock was soon the scene of the 
most bustling confusion. Alvarez and Juan, watch- 
ing everything with interest, were jostled hither 



32 AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

and thither, as wives rushed to greet their husbands 
and children their parents. As certain men lighted 
on what baggage had been hoisted out of the hold 
amidst the turmoil, the Brazilian gentleman 
thought their action was suspicious. One or two 
were so ^particularly villainous-looking that he was 
sure they must be outlaws taking advantage of the 
confused landing to rob the trunks. He sent Juan, 
therefore, to speak to a stout gentleman in blue 
coat and brass buttons quietly on the subject. 

"What's that!" cried the party addressed. 
"Is it thim then? Sure, but they're the deputy 
inspecthers, man." 

Thus reassured, the young man sought his 
father and told him it was all right. They then 
stood together watching the scene around them. 
There was one lot of sixteen trunks brought out for 
one party — man, wife and daughter. The inspector 
detailed for the lot proceeded to open the first 
trunk with alacrity, the proper one being unlocked 
by the owner. The lid was no sooner raised, how- 
ever, than it was quickly shut, but not in time to 
prevent the quick eyes of Juan from seeing a 
green bill, marked twenty, on toj) of the clothing. 
The lid was then raised more cautiously, a hand 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 33 

slipped in, the contents of the trunk fumbled over, 
and the trunk quickly scratched with chalk as 
passed. The fifteen companion trunks were like- 
wise rapidly scratched, without the formality of 
opening. 

Another trunk, one of a lot of ten, upon being 
opened, disclosed a city business card, which the 
inspector put in his pocket with a nod and a smile 
to the owner. The whole lot was quickly passed. 
Other poor wretches, the Brazilians noticed, who 
had but one trunk, were most rigidly overhauled, 
as if to pay them off for presuming to come over 
with such a paltry lot of property. Our gentlemen 
were so intent upon watching the others, that for 
a while they forgot all about their own baggage, but 
at length recognizing it, stepped up to claim it. 

"This your lot, sir?" said a man, who resem- 
bled a highwayman, with a cock in his eye. 

" Yes, sir," answered Alvarez, promptly. 

" Well, slaj) her open, and be lively about 
it." 

The Brazilian hastened to unlock the trunk 
rather nervously. 

' ' Anything dutiable ?' ' 

"Nothing but second-hand clothing, writing 
3* 



34 AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 

materials, medicine, and so on, except a half dozen 
new shirts never worn." 

" Ah, well ! We'll see." And the zealous officer 
]3roceeded to pile out the clothing and other things 
around on the dock with most startling rapidity. 
Alvarez ran one way, and Juan the other, to head 
off some refractory articles which were about roll- 
ing into the water. The benevolent gentleman 
almost lost patience, when a horse planted his great 
hoof squarely in the back of his dress coat, which 
he had brought along for possible state occasions. 
Before he had time to remonstrate, however, a 
truck backed into him from behind, and sent him 
sprawling on toj) of his own trunk. The driver 
cursed him emphatically as he was picking himself 
up, for his carelessness in getting in the road, and 
drove off. 

"I want ten dollars duty for these shirts," said 
the inspector, at length. 

"Why! how is that, sir?" put in Juan. "My 
father only paid five shillings each for them in 
London. What is the rate on them ?" 

"Come, come, gents, time's short — I can't stop 
to teach you the tariff. Hand me two dollars and a 



AN ESCAPE FROM SHARKS. 35 

half, and call it square. Do it quick, and quiet, too 
— do you mind f 

Alvarez, somewhat bruised and disordered in 
his dress, did as directed, and had his trunk 
marked passed. As he and Juan slowlj^ collected 
the scattered articles and packed them away, he 
could not help being surprised at what seemed to 
him a rather irregular method of collecting the 
duty. He could not exactly understand how mis- 
takes could be prevented from creeping in, when so 
much was apparently left to the discretion of the 
examiners. However, he concluded there must be 
some clue to the difficulty which he had not yet 
mastered. 





<fi)c^'lJJ5;4 



ie;jv^*®^4fllh 




CHAPTER III. 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

^FTEE, all the articles were neatly- 
packed away, and the trunk once 
more strapj^ed and locked, Al- 
varez and his son began to feel a 
little more comfortable. Leaving 
YiJ^^i^ilS J^^^^ ^^ watch the large baggage, 
v^^^'kf^T'^ the older gentleman took a bag in 
his hand, and proceeded np the 
dock to look for a carriage. He 
had no sooner emerged from under the cover, and 
evinced from his manner that he wanted a convey- 
ance than he was at once surrounded by a vociferous 
crowd of hackmen. Had he suddenly surprised a 
camp of wild savages, he could not have been more 
amazed or alarmed. 

" Carriage, sir ; want a carriage?" 

[36] 




ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 37 

'•Cab, sir ; here you are, sir." 
" This way for a coach, sir." 

The yells were terrific, while the attitudes and 
manner of the men were so aggressive, that the poor 
gentleman stood trembling and uncertain. Sud- 
denly one man took hold of one arm, drawing him 
to the left, and a second took hold of the other and 
dragged him to the right. During the confusion a 
third man quietly grasped his satchel, and walked 
off to his coach with it. For a time the right hand 
man, who was the strongest, had rather the best of 
the tussle, and was gradually drawing Alvarez in 
his direction, but the other individual managed to 
maintain his ground pretty well by a series of vigor- 
ous jerks. The bewildered Brazilian felt his breath 
come short and his strength leaving him. 

"Let go the gintleman, ye villain!" shouted 
driver number one., on one side his head. 

" Let go yerself, thin, ye spalpeen ! I had him 
first," yelled number two, at the other side. 
" Y' lie, yer black-hearted son of a pauper ! " 
"Come out here, thin, y' coward, y' ! Til soon 
put a head on ye." 

"Be gorra ! thin the best man has him." 
Alvarez suddenly found himself at liberty with 



38 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

a jerk, and tlie two infuriated cabmen flew into 
each other, tooth and nail. The man who had 
walked off with the satchel quietly showed the gen- 
tleman into his coach, shut the door, jumped on his 
box, and quickly drove down on the dock abreast 
the steamer. Juan was soon inside and the trunk 
taken care of. 

Directing him to drive to the Mansion House, of 
which he had heard on the steamer, Alvarez leaned 
back in the carriage, already somewhat done up by 
his first rather violent experience on American soil. 
The two pugilistic cabmen were found to be in 
charge of an officer. They were vehemently ex- 
plaining their relative positions, both at the same 
time, which rendered it a little diflicult to get at the 
merits of the case. 

As the carriage, after floundering through the 
rough and dirty streets which lay near the wharf, 
finally emerged into Broadway and turned down 
town, our travelers could not help gazing at the 
fine stores and tremendous activity of all around 
with pl-easure, and feeling that now indeed they 
were in the midst of the metroi^olis of a great na- 
tion. The bustling life was inspiring, while the 
whirl and noise almost deafening. They passed 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 39 

one great store after another, Stewart's marble pal- 
ace, the celebrated Court-House, City Hall, and 
massive granite Post-Office, and finally drew up in 
front of the hotel. 

Alvarez had been discussing on the way down, 
how that here at least all persons were free and had 
equal privileges and rights. He remained behind to 
settle with the coachman, while he sent Juan ahead 
to secure rooms. The light and graceful young 
man, with his fine face and expressive eyes, sprang 
quickly uj) the steps and disappeared. 

"How much, my man'f asked the Brazilian of 
the driver. 

The man surveyed him thoughtfully for a while, 
as if making a mental calculation or taking his 
measure, before answering. 

"Siven dollars and a half, sir." 

" What ! So much for twenty minutes' ride?" 

"Ay, mon. Do y' want to be ridin' all day?" 

" Why, in London the ride wouldn't be over two 
shillings !" 

"Get out of that! Sure yer in a free country 
now ; we're after gettin' paid here for our work." 

"Where's your card of rates, then ?" 

"Like the Dutchman' s anchor, be gorra ! at home. 



40 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

Ye' 11 find it all square, capt'in; fork over and let 
me be after goin'!" 

Somewhat astonished at the largeness of the 
charge and mentally calculating that he wouldn' t be 
able to ride often, or his funds would soon be eaten 
up, he paid the man and let him go, while the hotel 
porter seized his trunk. He was met on the steps 
by Juan, who told him they would have the choice 
of several rooms which were vacant. As Alvarez 
approached the office, the brisk clerk, dressed in 
the height of fashion, his hair parted in the middle, 
with stand-up collar, and watch-chain and locket 
conspicuously displayed, took one glance at the 
swarthy countenance of the Brazilian and supercili- 
ously awaited his arrival. 

" My father will look at those rooms, please," 
said Juan, " as we intend to stay some time." 

"Our rooms are all full, sir," said the clerk, 
firmly. 

" Full, sir ! Why, not five minutes ago you told 
me you had plenty of rooms.' ' 

"They are now all taken." 

"What! All taken while I went to the foot of 
the stairs and back again." 

"Yes, sir." 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 41 

" You do things quick here, my friend," put in 
Alvarez. 

' ' Yes, sir, we have our own way of doing 
things," said the clerk. As he turned away our 
travelers heard him mutter to the bookkeeper : 
" Curse me if I'll take him, the confounded nigger !" 

Surprised and mortified at this remark, and too 
indignant to argue the question, the two turned and 
moved slowly down the stejos to the street, their 
baggage following on the backs of two i)orters. A 
tap on the shoulder and Alvarez found himself con- 
fronted with a rather lank individual, having a pair 
of restless gray eyes and grizzled side-whiskers. 
In a mysterious whisj^er and with a look of deep 
import, the stranger bid the travelers follow him. 
Although a little uncertain, they followed his lead, 
and after two or three turns found themselves in a 
moderately quiet restaurant, and unconsciously 
seated at a table. 

"Sir,'- said the mysterious stranger. "My 
card." 

Alvarez got out his eye-glasses, and perused it 
attentively. It read : 

"Samuel Blodson, attorney-at-law, 26 Nassau 
street." 



42 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

"Happy to make your acquaintance, Mr. Blod- 
son; but for what am I indebted to tliis inter- 
view?" 

"Hold on, sir, till we have had some refresh- 
ment. Waiter, here !" 

After ordering a good square meal for the three, 
with plenty of trimmings, and taking uj^on himself 
the full conduct of affairs, the accommodating 
attorney began to develop his business. 

" If you want to put 'em through, sir, I'm your 
man !" 

" Put 'em through ! Put what through ?" 

" The hotel men upstairs. They've got no right 
to refuse you accommodation because you've got a 
black face." 

" They evidently took me for a negro." 

"Exactly! and we can make 'em sweat for it. 
Thank fortune, we Northern republicans put 
through a little bill on Civil Rights the other win- 
ter, and you or any other black man have got as 
much right here as any one." 

' ' Ah, sir, but I am only a stranger from Brazil, 
and have not the glorious privilege of being a citi- 
zen of the United States. Here is my card." 

"Pshaw! Sefior Alvarez, that needn't trouble 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 43 

you. We can fix that ; Til make you a citizen in 
twenty-four hours." 

" How ? I understood it required several years' 
residence to become a citizen." 

"Nonsense! Tm doing it every day. Enough 
to know that I've got friends in the right place up 
at the Hall. Gfive me the case, and half what I can 
make out of it, and I'll put you through and get 
you justice, even if it takes five years, and has to be 
carried to the United States supreme court." 

As Alvarez had no desire to begin a law-suit, 
under any circumstances, upon the first day of his 
arrival, he declined the proffered services. Besides, 
he was too sensitive and high-minded to desire to 
intrude anywhere where he was not wanted. They 
discussed the matter during the meal, Blodson 
doing most of the talking. He said Alvarez had a 
clear case, and whether he was a negro or not he 
didn't know or didn't care, the hotel men had vio- 
lated a law which had passed both houses of Con- 
gress by a large majority, and been signed by the 
President. AVhen the waiter presented the check 
for the viands consumed, the attorney quietly 
motioned him to the Brazilian, who as quietly set- 
tled. 



44 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

They emerged in tlie street at length, and 
Alvarez sought another conveyance. 

"You have regular charges for your carriages 
here, have you not ?" asked he of Blodson. 

"Well, yes, I believe we have, though nobody 
knows what they are. In this country it is much 
wiser to make your bargains beforehand, Seh- 
or." 

" So I find with cabs ; the last driver charged me 
seven dollars and a half, to come from the steamer 
here." 

"A dollar and a half would have been about 
right. Keep my card, Sehor, and call on me if you 
change your mind and conclude to jiush that case. 
Good day !" 

"Good day, sir, and many thanks for your 
kindness." 

Another carriage was procured and a reasonable 
bargain was made. Alvarez knew of one other 
hotel by reputation, having heard it mentioned on 
the steamer ; so he ordered the coachman, after 
getting his trunk and bags aboard, to drive there. 
It proved to be quite a distance up town, so they 
turned up Broadway and retraced the road they 
had already come. 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 45 

Arrived at the door of the hotel, Alvarez 
thought it would be wisdom not to dismiss the car- 
riage this time till sure of his reception. He, there- 
fore, pulled out a card and went in himself to 
reconnoitre. The following dialogue ensued : 

Alvarez. Have you two good rooms, connect- 
ing, in any pleasant part of the house ? 

Clerk. (Polite, but smiling sardonically.) I 
am afraid not, sir. 

Alvarez. I am not a negro, but a Brazilian gen- 
tleman ; here is my card. 

Clerk. (Taking card.) Eooms all full, cellar to 
garret. 

Alvarez. Call the proprietor. 

Clerk. All right. John, call Mr. Bilton. (Exit 
John.) 

(Enter Proprietor.) 

Proprietor. Well, sir, what can I do for you ? 

Alvarez. Sir, I am a stranger from Brazil, look- 
ing for rooms ; your clerk tells me you have none 
vacant ; I am morally convinced it is untrue, and I 
want to know the reason for the treatment. 

Proprietor. My clerk, though wrong literally., 
is right according to my orders. We have actually 
no rooms to let at present. 



46 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

Alvarez. You mean to me f 

Proprietok. To put it briefly, that's it. 

Alvarez. And why ? 

Proprietor. Since you press me closely, sir, 
we have found Jeios to injure our business greatly, 
and — 

Alvarez. But, sir — 

Proprietor. I know what you would say. 
This is a free country, and you cannot help being 
an Israelite. I can see that you are not of the 
offensive trade Jew stripe, but I have put my foot 
down against all of your class, and down it shall be 
kept. Good-day, sir ; unfortunately I cannot ac- 
commodate 5^ou. 

More dumbfoundered and indignant than ever, 
the amiable Brazilian turned and left the inhosj^it- 
able tavern. His reception so far in the city had 
been such as he was altogether unprepared for from 
anything he had read in books. Besides, he was 
very much bewildered and undecided. The first 
hotel having taken him for a negro, and the second 
for a Jew, a third might look upon him as an 
Indian, a fourth a Hottentot, and a fifth a gorilla. 
He really knew not what to do. He was particu- 
larly astonished and unprepared, as he had always 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 47 

looked upon America as holding her arms open for 
every race, class, or people. 

A short consultation with Juan, and Alvarez 
concluded to try once more. He knew no other 
hotel himself, and so took the driver's advice in a 
third selection. At length the weary and harassed 
travelers found rest. Their first day had been 
rather an exciting one, full of unlooked-for adven- 
tures, not to say disasters ; but they were still 
full of hope and courage. 

"We have but touched the hem of the garment 
yet, my son," said Alvarez, as, stretched on the 
lounge in their sitting-room, he was leisurely enjoy- 
ing a cigar. "There is many a rough, uncouth 
exterior that contains a sweet and wholesome 
kernel within." 

"True, my father, we must have some patience. 
No knowledge is obtained without trouble." 

" You are right, Juan, and speak with a wisdom 
above your years," said his father, looking at him 
admiringly. 

After a few quiet puffs on his segar he resumed : 

"Now, what is jmrticularly admirable in this 
country, my son, is that all have a voice in the 
affairs of the government. Almost every office 



48 ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 

being elective, those men who have most distin- 
guished themselves for virtue and wisdom, are 
naturally selected by their fellow citizens, to take 
charge of these trusts. Even the judges are selected 
by the impartial suffrages of the people." 

"How just and admirable." 

"You can appreciate the wisdom of the founders 
of this government, and the framers of its constitu- 
tion. From a few straggling colonies, thirteen in 
all, containing less than four million people, but 
one hundred years ago, the territory of the thirty- 
eight United States now stretches from ocean to 
ocean, welded together by steam and electricity, 
and nourishing within its ample bounds more than 
forty million souls, free, virtuous and happy." 

" How wonderful !" 

"Here indeed, i\iQ vox populi seems actually to 
be the vox del. The supreme law has been so well 
and carefully framed that whereas the originators 
having never conceived the great size to which their 
country would grow, or the vast number of peoj^le, 
of all nationalities and shades of oj^inion, it would 
receive into citizenship, the eternal principles con- 
tained in the instrument, have been found equally 
efficacious to rule a large as a small nation. In this 



ADRIFT IN GOTHAM. 49 

respect unlike the boasted governmental forms of 
Sparta, or of Athens, which were not calculated for, 
and could not stand the strain of, extension." 

Juan found himself nodding a little, but still 
paid strict attention to his father. 

"It will be part of our plan, my son, to study the 
institutions, the forms and workings of the govern- 
ment of this wonderful i^eople, who have done so 
much in so short a time. Their manner of doing 
business, their social intercourse, their courts, their 
politics, and their worship, must necessarily all be 
instructive and interesting. But we will retire now, 
and set on foot our inquiries to-morrow, when we 
arise fresh and bright." 

With this remark the elder prepared for bed, 
and was quickly followed by Juan, already half 
asleep. 





CHAPTER lY. 



CLEANED OUT. 




HE next morning our travelers arose 
late, having been thoroughly tired 
out by the unusual exertions of 
the day before. During a leisure- 
ly breakfast they discussed their 
plans, Alvarez interspersing his 
remarks by various disquisitions 
to his son, regarding the United 
States and its people. 
"The unexampled prosperity of this country," 

said he, "is beyond all belief " 

"Nonsense !'• sharply exclaimed an elderly gen- 
tleman, who sat at the same table, looking over his 
newspaper. 

" Sir !" ejaculated Alvarez, a little startled. 
" The country is all going to the devil as fast as 
it can go," continued the stern gentleman. 

[50] 



CLEANED OUT. 



51 



"Indeed, sir! Yon suriDrise me." 

"Why, my dear sir, look around yon. Within 
the last three years there have been more failures 
than ever was known in the history of any country ; 
merchants are losing money every day, real estate 
has declined one-half, and seventy thousand beggars 
tramp the streets of our city in search of work and 
bread." 

"Dear me !" 

"And getting worse, sir, getting worse. Our 
prisons are overflowing, and a man's life is not 
safe anywhere after nightfall, from the attacks of 
tramps and villains, desperate from the effect^ of 
hunger." 

"And what, sir, is the cause of this unfortunate 
condition of affairs?" Alvarez ventured to ask. 

"The cause, sir, is self-evident ; but as you are a 
stranger I will show you. You see the Republican 
party have run this government for sixteen years 
until they have just about run it in the ground. 
They have put on such a tremendous tariff, and 
conducted themselves in such a rascally manner 
that they have swamped the industries of the coun- 
try and made us all poor, and they have kept cut- 
ting down our currency to such an extent that there 



52 



CLEANED OUT. 



is no money to be had by any one. That is what 
we are suffering from to-day, and what will eventu- 
ally completely banl^rupt the country." 

"I do not see, if these matters were plainly set 
before the rulers, as sensible men why they should 
persist in this disastrous course," said Alvarez. 

"That's it, sir, that's what I said. The thing 
has been tried, but has had no success. I have pre- 
pared and published articles on this very subject, 
and have had the same caMed to their attention, but 
it has produced no effect whatever. Now in the old 
Democratic times, everything went smooth and plea- 
sant ; we had on a twenty per cent, ad valorem 
tariff for revenue only, which was amply sufficient, 
and money was plenty. What we want now is 
lower duties, fewer taxes, and more money." 

"All this would seem to be desirable," re- 
marked our traveler, following the speaker atten- 
tively. " But I cannot understand, even if the gov- 
ernment should issue more money, just how it 
would get in the hands of the people ?" 

"Oh! that would come easy enough. Let the 
government issue a hundred million more green- 
backs, and somebody would get hold of it, I warrant 
you. As it is now, a few rascally conspirators, men 



CLEANED OUT. 53 

who profess themselves patriots, have scooped in 
most of the funds of the country, and locked them 
up completely. By having such an outlandish 
tariff everything is made enormously dear, and by 
money being made artifically scarce, nobody has 
any to get anything with, and everything is at a 
deadlock." 

" If the administration, and the party at present 
in power, is vicious or obtuse, the people certainly 
have the remedy in their own hands. According to 
the admirable system of your country, they can be 
voted out and others put in," 

"Yes, but the people as a mass are notoriously 
ignorant, and, out of pure cussedness, refuse to 
be taught. They are led by trickery of tener than 
by wisdom, and when they have a chance to vote 
for a sound man they don' t know enough to take 
advantage of it. I have offered myself as candi- 
date for Congress, but I found I was not appre- 
ciated. I am disgusted with politics and with the 
country. It is certainly going to destruction, and 
the government is rotten to the core." 

The gentleman rose as he spoke, and waving a 
farewell, abruptly left the dining-room. He seemed 
so confident as to the certainty of his lugubrious 



54 CLEANED OUT. 

prognostications being veritied, and was withal so 
downright and earnest that Alvarez was quite im- 
pressed. Our traveler was, moreover, much grieved 
to learn that the land which he had believed in 
such an advanced state of prosperity should turn 
out to be in so desperate a condition, and could not 
iind'erstand why an administration, seeing the state 
of things, did not at once set about making them 
right and caring for the individual happiness of the 
people. The future of the country, momentarily, 
appeared to him lamentable. 

Subsequent inquiries on this interesting subject 
convinced him that there did exist a wide-spread 
business depression throughout the United States 
at that time ; but he was much confused and be- 
wildered at the various, and apparently conflicting, 
causes assigned for it. His acquaintance at the 
breakfast table had told him it was the Republican 
party, high tariff, and scarcity of greenbacks. 
After he had gotten this idea thoroughly in his 
head, another gentleman, some days later, informed 
him that it was the Democratic party, which, by 
bringing on the war, had caused the destruction of 
three thousand million dollars' worth of property. 
When he had pondered this some time, still an- 



CLEANED OUT. 55 



other stated that such had been the rage for me- 
chanical invention and labor-saving appliances of 
all kinds that facilities had been created for pro- 
ducing a great many more goods than were needed, 
while iron fingers took the place of flesh and blood. 
A fourth gentleman had explained that the vast 
issue of paper money, made necessary by the great 
w^ar, had so inflated things generally, encouraging 
speculation and extravagance in all stations and 
conditions of life, that people everywhere had been 
living on a fictitious basis beyond their means, and 
were gradually being forced back to a metal stand- 
ard. But this he could not believe, since his first 
acquaintance had distinctly said that there was a 
lack of greenbacks instead of being too many. A 
fifth had dwelt seriously upon the wide-spread dis- 
honesty of the people, and a lack of responsibility 
everywhere ajiparent, which tended to break up 
confidence and make capital timid. When experi- 
ence proved that individuals, communities, and cor- 
l^orations were not to be trusted, the consequence 
was, that when credit was needed, money was not 
forthcoming. But this proposition was so entirely 
contrary to all his former beliefs that he could not 
admit it. Which of these things was the true 



56 CLEANED OUT. 

canse, or whether each furnished a foundation 
stone, continued to agitate the mind of the anxious 
and amiable Brazilian for a long time. 

However, on this occasion, the breakfast fin- 
ished, he sallied out in the street, accompanied by 
his son, on the lookout for information of any- 
kind. After keeping down Broadway for awhile 
they saw in the distance a great concourse of people. 
The street was blocked up, and travel impeded by 
the dense masses of citizens, mostly well dressed, 
while hundreds more were hurrying to the scene. 

"See, Juan I"' exclaimed Alvarez, "something 
dreadful must have happened." 

"Let us hasten and find out," cried the impuls- 
ive young man, starting at once on a half run. 

Arriving breathless at the outer edge of the 
crowd, they inquired eagerly what the trouble was, 
but those there seemed quite as ignorant as them- 
selves. Finally. Juan, determined to ascertain the 
cause of the vast gathering, clambered up on a cart 
which stood at some distance, and standing on tip- 
toe, strained his eyes toward the centre of the 
throng. 

Being prepared for something horrible or tre- 
mendous, he was much surprised to see that the 



CLEANED OUT. 57 

whole reason apparently for the great crowd was, 
that a horse attached to a truck had fallen down, 
and the people were watching with intense anxiety, 
the interesting performance of getting him on his 
feet again. Being somewhat disappointed at the 
result of his investigation, and more or less sur- 
prised to see the people take such great interest in 
an incident with which they must necessarily be 
pretty familiar, he jumped down and sought his 
father. 

The old gentleman, suddenly missing Juan, had 
been very much agitated in not being able to find 
him. At last, after a long search for each other, 
they met. 

"Nay, Juan!" exclaimed the father, chidingly, 
"you must not leave me thus in this great city. 
We might get separated and never meet again." 

"Pray Heaven not, my father !" 

"But what was the tumult about ?" 

"A horse." 

" How ! what ! Some violent steed killing some 
one or getting killed ?" 

"Neither. Quite a bloodless affair. He had 

only fallen down, and the driver was helping him 

up." 

3* 



5 8 CLEANED OUT. 

"All! Well, that proves to you how willing 
the American people are to help each other, even in 
what may appear trifling cases." 

"But they were not helping; they were only 
looking on, many with their hands in their 
pockets." 

"All right! They were giving the encourage- 
ment of their presence. A good-natured and kind 
people." 

"Perhaps. But, father, where is your watch?" 
suddenly cried the young man, seeing his father's 
chain was not displayed in the usual iDlace. 

" Watch? Why here it — no ! Sao Pedro ! it is 
gone!" 

" You may have left it at the hotel." 

"No, my son, I had it but a few minutes ago. 
It is lost. We must bear it patiently." 

"Nay, father ; but if you have dropped it some- 
where near, it perhaps has been found. If you give 
notice to that effect to the passers-by, no doubt it 
will be returned." 

While Alvarez was revolving this in his mind, of 
a sudden some one facetiously toppled his hat over 
his eyes and a familiar voice cried out : 

" Well, Hal, old boy ! How is it going now ?" 



CLEANED OUT. 59 

"Ah ! Mr. Wilkens, glad to see you once more. 
Well met ! I need your advice." 

"So! Well, fire away, Colonel," said' the 
accommodating Wilkens, shifting his quid of 
tobacco and giving Juan a nod of recognition. 

"We were attracted by a crowd awhile since, 
and became separated. Upon getting together again 
I find I have accidentally lost my watch. As I have 
always understood the people here were exception- 
ally honest, I thought if we should let it be 
known — " 

He was interrupted by uproarious peals of laugh- 
ter from Wilkens. So great was the mirth of the 
latter gentleman, that he seemed ready to burst. 
He grew red in the face and shook from head to 
foot. Alvarez became alarmed. 

"Colonel, this won't do — you'll kill me if you 
keep on," said Wilkens, at length, wiping his 
eyes. 

"Why, sir! What have I done?" asked the 
Brazilian in innocent surprise. 

"Why, you great giraffe! The boys have 
cleaned you out." 

" Cleaned me out ?" 

" Kizizzled you ; gone through you." 



6o. CLEANED O UT. 

"Really, sir, I don't just catcli the idea," said 
Alvarez, quite bewildered. 

"They've picked your pocket. Are you sure 
you have your pocket-book left ?" 

Alvarez felt nervously for his wallet — it was 
gone. His countenance proclaimed it to the quick 
eye of Wilkens, without his saying a word. 

" You'll have to grin and bear it. Colonel. Only 
remember and don't go in a crowd again with all 
your pockets flung wide open like barn doors. Our 
boys don't give anything away." 

Somewhat humiliated and downcast, Alvarez 
walked along in silence for a while. It began to 
dawn upon him, vaguely and distantly, that Amer- 
ica was not the Arcadia he had pictured, although 
he would not yet admit it even to himself. He 
began to be nervous at times, however, at the 
troublesome and pointed questions that his quick 
son every once in a while asked him, entirely un- 
conscious of anything out of the way. He feared 
in this case, to be questioned in relation to his 
former good-humored exposition of an American 
crowd. 

Juan, however, said nothing on that matter, but 
walked along quietly with his father and Wilkens. 



CLEANED OUT. 6i 

It seemed to strike liim after a while, that Broad- 
way was unusually quiet. Upon their first arrival, 
the clash and roar had been terrific and deafening, 
but now, in comparison, it sounded quite subdued. 
Unable to account for this at the moment, after 
some little quiet observation, he remarked there 
were no omnibusses running. 

"Why, Mr. Wilkens !" asked he. "How is it 
there are no stages to-day?" 

"The owners of the lines have been imposing 
on the drivers, and they wouldn't stand it." 

"What's become of themf 

"They kicked." 

"Kicked! Kicked who?" 

"They stood out; they got their backs up; 
they struck." 

"My son," exclaimed Alvarez, condescendingly, 
"I presume the men refused to work when unrea- 
sonable conditions were forced upon them." 

"Well! What did the employers require of 
them so hard ?" persisted Juan. "Did they lessen 
the pay and increase the work." 

"They didn't increase the work, but they 
knocked spots out of the pickings," said Wil- 
kens. 



62 CLEANED OUT. 

"How was that?" 

"Why, somebod}'- or other up and invented an 
infernal patent clap-trap arrangement, to force a 
passenger to put in his money and keep it out of the 
driver's hands entirely. You see how it was. 
When a suspicion of that kind was thrown upon 
the men, they wouldn't work." 

" I suppose they were noble, sensitive fellows," 
said Alvarez. "I should feel the same way 
myself." 

"Oh, yes! that's it!" exclaimed Wilkens, giv- 
ing one of his most surprising winks. "You see 
we Americans are not only above doing wrong, but 
we don't wish folks even to think it of us." 

Alvarez did not reply, but quite unconsciously, 
placed his hand where his watch had been a short 
time before. 

"The men had good argument on their side, 
too," continued Wilkens. "They said their wages 
were small, and they couldn't live on 'em with 
their families. They only honestly knocked down 
a reasonable fair slice, and the owners knew it, 
and had given it the go-by with a wink, for years. 
They weren't going to stand being forced out of 
their hard earnings by any darned patent." 



CLEANED OUT. 63 

Not clearly comprehending the full force of 
"knocking down," and "giving the go-by with a 
wink," Juan still thought he understood the 
general drift, and so put the question : 

" The managers paid the drivers a small salary 
and then connived with them to appropriate a por- 
tion of the money they collected — is that it 1" 

"That's about it." 

"How was that percentage regulated?" 

" Only by the honesty of the drivers." 

"Humph! Not being entirely satisfied with the 
workings of the arrangement, the owners have 
finally put in the patent boxes ?" 

"Just so, Captain. You've hit the bull's eye, 
first time." 

Juan pondered a long time on this incident. He 
could not help feeling an increased interest in a 
people which among numberless other inventions, 
had at length hit upon machines to make men 
honest. He could not quite understand, however, 
in view of the various statements of his father, in 
regard to the universal rectitude and virtue iDreva- 
lent, why such should be necessary. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 




LVAREZ had not yet presented 
his bills of exchange from the 

f'^^^^^IIBAW English bankers on their New 
"^^ySj^^w York, correspondent. Brazil, ap- 
parently, was a country of so lit- 
tle importance to the United 
States, that not only was there no 
direct steam communication there, 
but the mail, as a necessary con- 
sequence, had to be carried to England, and then 
reshipiDed, and all bills of exchange must also be 
drawn through English bankers. Alvarez had, 
therefore, in preparing himself funds, procured 
short sight bills on London, which had in turn 
been replaced by short sight on New York. 

As the three gentlemen continued down town, 

[64] 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 65 

the Brazilian mentioned to liis Yankee friend the 
address he wislied to find in Exchange place, and 
Wilkens at once volunteered to show him the way, 
as he said he was going right down in that neigh- 
borhood. 

"I feel almighty grub-struck, Colonel," cried 
Wilkens, at length. "How is it with you % " 

"Grub-struck!" exclaimed Alvarez, somewhat 
puzzled, and involuntarily feeling for a little dic- 
tionary which he had bought to assist him when at 
a loss. ' ' Really, my dear sir, I ' ' 

"I'm hollow as a rat-hole." 

The Brazilian gentleman- only scratched his head 
undecidedly. 

"I'm ready for rations; I want my hash. 
Confound it ! I thought you understood Eng- 
lish ! " 

"Well, I thought I did, but it seems not alto- 
gether American English." 

They passed down Broadway, and turned at 
length into Fulton street. A few doors from the 
corner Alvarez was startled to hear a most terrific 
roar and clatter. The bellowing of human voices 
and the crash of crockery was frightful, and grew 
louder as they apjDroached. Juan was much ex- 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 67 

with the steaming liquid, and doubled him up like 
a jack-knife. 

" Golly, man ! you musn't get in the way of this 
chile," exclaimed the colored individual, as the 
poor Brazilian, knocked all out of time, sank into a 
chair, with his hands clasped over his injured part. 
Juan, excessively indignant, was about to chastise 
the headlong waiter, but Wilkiris shoved him into 
a seat opposite his father, and sat himself along 
side of him. 

"Keep still, youngster. You're in a free coun- 
try now." 

Alvarez, just recovered his capacity for breath- 
ing, was wiping his clothes with his handkerchief. 

"You see. Colonel, every one is in a hurry in 
our country. No time to lose, and as eating is 
something no money can be made out of, they slash 
it through as quick as possible." 

"So I see," gasped the Brazilian, looking 
around. 

Above the din of knives and forks, and the 
hideous jar of dishes, shouts of the most mysterious 
import arose. Wild cries of " roasti beef," "corn 
beef and," "boned turkey," and the like. Noticing 
a gentleman at the next table give an order, Alvarez 



68 THE BULL-FIGHT. 

was suriDrised to hear the waiter yell out, "brass 
band and three diamond studs." Gfreatly inter- 
ested to know what this formidable order could 
possibly signify, he watched the waiter intently to 
see what he brought. The mystery wa« solved 
when he saw pork and beans, with three sausage 
balls, placed in front of the gentleman in question. 

"Now, then, gem' men, what ye gwine to have ?" 

Totally unused to such an establishment, Alvarez 
motioned to Wilkens to give the necessary orders. 

"See here, George Washington, none of your 
tomfooling now," said Wilkens to the waiter. 
"Bring us some good roast beef — no tanned leather 
— mind." 

" Ya'as, sir ; large or small ?" 

" Small, you rascal — we'll try a samj^le first — 
and, George !" 

"Ya'as, sir." 

"Baked dumplings, plenty of hard — none of 
your darned skinnin'." 

The waiter was off like a shot. The floor being 
exceedingly slippery, he took but two or three 
stej^s and then slid the rest of the way to the end 
of the room, and roared out his order, so that he 
could be heard a block. Though back in an incred- 



J 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 69 

ibly short space of time, Wilkens cursed Ms slow- 
ness, and sarcastically wanted to know if he had 
been out killing that cow. The dishes were most 
expeditiously and energetically slapped down on 
the table ; so much so, that the meat slid partly off, 
and the gravy formed all sorts of curious designs 
on the cloth, which was already of as many colors 
as the famous coat of Joseph. 

" Sail your boat. Colonel," cried Wilkens, 
jpromptly attacking the viands. 

Alvarez had always been in the habit of saying a 
silent grace before eating, but strange to say, in this 
instance the idea of invoking God' s blessing on the 
meal seemed not to have entered his head. The 
actions of those around him was contagious, and he 
found himself chewing in great haste the tough 
leathery substance on his plate, without knowing 
the reason why. Before he had hardly commenced, 
however, Wilkins had finished his entire meal, 
and was picking his teeth with his fork. Not being 
very hungry, and everything being in such total 
conflict with all their previous habits and ideas, 
both Alvarez and Juan soon signified that they had 
finished, and arose from the table. Picking their 
way carefully to the door they finally reached the 



70 THE BULL-FIGHT. 

street safely with a gratified sense of having suc- 
cessfnlly escaped a great danger. Drawing a breath 
of relief, Alvarez asked cautiously : 

" Is it then a restaurant for merchants and gen- 
tlemen?" 

Wilkens, who had "stood treat," as he termed 
it, replied good-naturedly : 

"Oh gosh! yes; thousands of them everyday 
get their dinners here, or at other places like it. 
Why, you can get a good square meal for twenty- 
five cents, and be all through in ten minutes from 
the time you go in," 

"Very energetic people !" exclaimed the Brazil- 
ian. 

" You bet !" acquiesced the other. 

They turned back into Broadway, and continued 
on down town. 

"We're coming to Wall street. Colonel," said 
Wilkens, "where the bulls and bears go for one an- 
other." 

"What! You don't mean to say wild animals 
roam these populous streets V 

"Oh, yes! lots of 'em. Besides the bulls and 
bears, there are foxes and wolves, hogs and jack- 
asses by scores." 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 71 

"Indeed!" 

"Yes, sir. But wait a few minutes and you 
will see those first two critters I mentioned, in full 
bloom." 

A few doors from Broadway after- they had 
turned into Wall street, our travelers heard a great 
roaring as if from a congregation of wild beasts. Not 
knowing, from the statement of Wilkens, just what 
to expect, they were on the alert. As they reached 
the corner of New street, the bellowing became 
louder and more distinct, and looking to the 
entrance of a building from whence the noise pro- 
ceeded, they saw a crowd of men out in the street, 
apparently under a great pressure of excitement, 
and frantic to get inside. Some were evidently as 
anxious to get out, while boys were scudding this 
way and that, bearing little pieces of paper. Juan 
had heard his grandfather tell of the bull-fights of 
Spain, and was on tip- toe with excitement to see 
this present combat. 

"I hear the bulls plainly," cried he. 

"Listen again," said Wilkens. "Don't you 
hear the bears now ?" 

As a strain of roaring unusually loud was borne 
toward them, Juan exclaimed : 



72 THE BULL-FIGHT. 

"Yes, now I do. Let us hasten, before it is 
over." 

"Go easy, mj^ lad. It's never over. Every day, 
Sundays excepted, the fight goes on from ten till 
three." 

"Which usually get worsted!" inquired Al- 
varez. 

"Sometimes one side gets a black eye, then the 
other ; very often both get everlastingly scratched 
up, and neither fairly licked. But I haven't time 
to show up the animals to-day, if you want me to 
take you to Exchange place. Come along this 
way." 

Our travelers had admired old Trinity on their 
way down, and now, as the clock chimed the hour, 
they turned around and gazed at the lofty and 
noble steeple of the church, as it towered aloft in 
front of them. 

" This is the great Wall street," said their con- 
ductor. " And there is the Stock Exchange," con- 
tinued he, as they turned the corner of Broad 
street. "That was the rear of it where we heard 
that infernal racket awhile ago." 

It began to dawn upon Juan that the various 
wonderful statements of their friendly guide should 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 73 

not be taken in their full literal significance, and lie 
commenced to see that perhaps that tremendous 
bull-fight was more imaginary than real. 

"Great money transactions here, I suppose," 
said Alvarez. 

"Tremendous, sir; would make your head 
swim. The amount of business transacted on x)aper 
beats all creation." 

"Indeed!" 

" Yes, sir-ee. What do you think, Colonel, of a 
man up and selling one million, five million, ten 
million dollars' worth of an article he hasn' t got, 
and couldn' t j)ossibly pay for, and binding himself 
to deliver it three months from now % " 

"Impossible, sir !" 

" Not by a jug-full ; done every day. We're 
bold men here, Colonel. Why, sir, there was one 
Friday down here that there was more gold en- 
gaged to be delivered than existed in the whole 
country, or — by George ! — existed in the whole 
world, almost." 

" And when they can't deliver?" 

"Why, they cave, go up spout, shufile up and 
have a new deal. Our men have i)luck, they never 
give up." 



74 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 



"Very energetic, great ingenuity!" exclaimed 
Alvarez. 

"They'll sell anything, real or imaginarj^, and 
buy anything, and when they get through gambling 
down town, they go up to the hotels and keep it 
up all night, most of them." 

As the anxious and excited men hurried to and 
fro, apparently unconscious of all around them, our 
travelers could not help wondering how long a 
nervous system could last under such tremendous 
wear and tear. 

"Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Wilkens. "Here 
comes one of the most active reptiles now." 

They looked quickly in the direction he indi- 
cated, and saw a small, dark, Jewish-looking man, 
neatly dressed, who with a quick step was passing 
rapidly along. They gazed at him intently as 
Wilkens gave some rapid sketches of his tremen- 
dous transactions and exceedingly slick tricks. As 
they looked, a large burly man, with nostrils ex- 
tended, and stepping high — pawing the air, so to 
speak — came around the corner, and met the smaller 
gentleman face to face. As a bull is urged to a 
pitch of frenzy by a red cloth shaken before his 
eyes, ^30 the large gentleman seemed irritated be- 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 75 

yond all endurance by the a^Dpearance of the 
smaller. A few savage growls, accompanied by some 
violent gestures, and our three friends saw in sur- 
prise the small gentleman lifted from the ground, 
tossed on the horns of the infuriated brute, so to 
speak, and disappear rapidly down a cellar- way. 

A crowd soon collected. Wilkens rushed over 
to see what the trouble was, but came back shortly 
after, smiling. 

" More scared than hurt, I guess," said he, reas- 
suringly. 

"But what could provoke such a dastardly 
attack from one gentleman upon another 1" 

" The bull went for the bear ; that's all. Colonel. 
The little fellow has got him in a tight place, and 
cleaned him out. That little cuss is sharper than 
greased lightning." 

" And this is the way business is done here ?" 

"Certainly, all square. Only the big chap 
oughtn't to have squealed, and should have taken 
one of his size." 

They walked along in silence for awhile. At 
length, Juan inquired : 

" But how can such large transactions be accom- 
plished without large sums of money ?" 



76 THE BULL-FIGHT. 

"On margins, youngster. The workings of a 
'put' and 'call,' are strange enough to a greenhorn, 
but the mysteries of a ' spread,' that wins either 
way, beats all creation. I prefer good square bluff 
myself." 

" What ! Is it all gambling, then V 

"Not at all, my dear fellow; don't say that. 
Gambling is prohibited by law. You'll get locked 
up, very likely, should you start a faro table or sell 
French pools, and many of the conscientious church 
members down here would be horrified to call their 
occupation, gambling." 

They were now near the corner of Exchange 
place, which they had approached from Broad 
street. 

"Come up here a moment," said Wilkens. 
"They've got a new plan started up here, which 
lets poor folks have a chance to invest now and 
then." 

They were around in New street, and entered an 
ax)artment, in which there reigned a silence equal to 
a church. A stock indicator and large blackboard 
were in one end of the room, which were being 
intently watched by an eager audience, ranged on 
benches in front of it. Tliis audience was ex- 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 77 

tremely interesting to contemplate. Young men 
clerks, broken-down oi^erators, rough, farmers, even 
errand boys, were there, their eyes glistening as 
they watched the changes of stock which were 
being registered. 

" You can chip as low as five dollars on this," 
said Wilkens. 

"Indeed!" replied Alvarez, greatly interested. 
"You mean bet." 

" Bet ! No. I mean you can invest a margin as 
low as five dollars, and take your chances upon the 
stock you select going ui3 or down. If ujp., you 
make ; if down, you lose. This is ojierating — let- 
ting, I told you, is against the law." 

With this they turned back into Exchange place 
and our travelers soon found the number they were 
seeking, and bade good-day to their friend. 




CHAPTER VI. 



THE PEDLAE-AND-BEGGAR-BOUITCER. 




^ ^y*^^..^*..^^ , LVAREZ entered rather hesitat- 
\^^\f^M K^ ingly with his son the outer office 
of Mr. Horace Mihnan. To tell 
the truth, the loss of his wallet in 
the crowd was embarrassing him 
more than he had admitted at the 
V^^^^^rfs time. He had some private pa- 
pers in it, as well as the bill of 
exchange from the London 
banker. He was out of ready money and relied 
upon getting a supply immediately upon presenting 
his credentials. Of course, he could write or cable 
to London for a duplicate, but there would be delay 
and embarrassment, and in the mean time he would 
be out of funds. He was, therefore, rather nervous 
upon entering the office. 

[78] 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 79 

It was somewhat plain and unpretending in fur- 
niture and appearance, but had an old-fashioned, 
solid look, very much unlike the usual American 
intense newness. An elderly man stood at the desk, 
engaged in writing. He gave the travelers a sharp 
glance as they entered. Alvarez was usually 
scrupulously neat in his apparel, but his painful 
exiDerience at the eating-saloon, combined with his 
walk through the streets on a gusty March day, 
had upset him to a considerable extent, and given 
him somewhat the appearance of a rusty j)edes- 
trian, with a slight suggestion of the broken-down 
clerical. 

"Is Mr. Milman here?" asked he, humbly, of 
the elderly clerk. 

"Did you read that sign \ " laconically retorted 
the one addressed. 

"I did not," answered the Brazilian, stepping 
back and looking for the notice indicated. 

The inscription was somewhat mysterious to 
him. 

"the PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER IS IN," 

failed to strike a responsive chord in Alvarez's 
breast. 



8o THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

combined examination of tlie little dictionary by 
Juan and liimself, lie had to give it up, and turned 
to tlie clerk once more for exi^lanation. That indi- 
vidual was now writing more industriously than 
ever, and looked neither to right nor left. Our 
traveler approached within a respectful distance 
and waited awhile j^atiently. Receiving no atten- 
tion, he ventured a slight cough. The clerk was 
apparently so totally oblivious to all around, that 
this failing to attract his attention, our traveler 
tried a still more decided bronchial effort. Finding 
he was only wasting his ammunition, Alvarez at 
length spoke up. 

" I am seeking Mr. Milman," said he. 

"Well, sir," said the clerk, turning round so 
sharply as to make the gentleman jump, "sup- 
l)0se you were to find him — what then f 

" I have business " 

"Oh! sir, we don't want any pens or blotting 
paper, we all have our lives insured, and don't 
advertise a dollar." 

"But, sir, I am not " 

" We don't need any help, and never give to 
outside churches. In fact, we don't want anybody 
or anything." And he turned his back peremptorily 



THE PEDLiR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 8i 

upon the astonished gentleman, and resumed his 
writing. 

Juan, though much irritated at the treatment of 
his father, could hardly repress a smile at the be- 
wildered and woebegone look of his parent. At 
length a desperate idea seemed to seize Alvarez, 
He never lacked courage, but his extreme modesty 
and consideration for others, were continually hold- 
ing him in check. "Modesty," writes Addison, 
"so great a virtue in woman, is a great drawback 
in life to a man," and in no country on the face of 
the globe is this more true than in our own glorious 
land. A door stood ojDen at a little distance ; our 
traveler judged the gentleman he sought would be 
found within, and he determined to make the trial 
at all hazards. A few bold steps and he had run 
the gauntlet and crossed the threshold. He was 
not disappointed ; Mr. Milman was quietly seated 
at his desk, sorting some papers. 

"I am Pedro Alvarez, and — " 

"Ah, Sehor, come in," said Milman, rising and 
extending his hand with a smile. "We have had 
advices about you." 

Alvarez was pleased with the appearance of the 
gentlemanly, well-dressed banker. Of light com- 

4* 



82 THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

plexion, partially bald, and clean shaved, except a 
moustache, his attitude was easy and graceful as he 
stood before them, his manner engaging, and hiiS 
voice agreeable. 

" This is my son, Juan." 

" Welcome, gentlemen, both," said the banker, 
placing chairs before the open grate fire. "Pray, 
be seated." 

A keen observer might have noticed a rather 
nervous, though slight motion of the delicate 
hands, as vrell as a certain involuntary twitching of 
the corners of the mouth, which seemed to indicate 
a mind not entirely at ease ; but to the stranger Mr. 
Milman was a most engaging man. 

" I supi30se you have drafts upon me," said he. 

"Well, I had, sir, this morning; but — " and 
Alvarez paused with the somewhat vacant and be- 
wildered look which usually spread over his counte- 
nance when anything happened to trouble him. 

"How is that, Sehor? I don't understand." 

Alvarez related the circumstances of the morn- 
ing — the crowd, the excitement, with the subsequent 
missing of his watch and pocket-book. As the 
latter contained certain papers valuable to him 
only, and among others the sight bill for five thou- 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 83 

sand dollars gold, his embarrassment was easily 
understood. 

"Don't trouble yourself, my friend. You must 
cable for a duplicate. You migiit also notify the 
police, and offer a reward, if you thought it w^orth 
while." 

" But in the mean time I have no funds !" 

"That need not embarrass you. I will advance 
you whatever is necessary, and assist you all in my 
power. This bill, I presume, was not indorsed by 
you, and will be of no use to anybody. I of course 
will not pay it." 

"I thank you most heartily, my dear sir, for 
your kindness," said Alvarez, warmly. 

"Not at all. You do not need to carry a large 
amount of money around with you ; you had better, 
therefore, deposit the sum with me, and draw as 
you want." 

"Exactly. That is my wish." 

"You must also favor me with a visit at my 
house in Brooklyn, as soon as convenient." 

" With the greatest pleasure." 

Alvarez, taking advantage of a pause, glanced 
around the inner office. The furniture was still not 
ostentatious, but rich and plain and old. An 



84 THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

evident air of responsibility and respectability per- 
vaded the whole place. Milman, quickly interpret- 
ing his glance, drew a chair up and explained, in a 
friendly, confidential way. " I have to apologize for 
our surroundings," said he. " We are old-fashioned, 
but intend soon to move into our new offices. Our 
house has been running about forty years, since my 
father first started it, and we have somehow kept 
up old appearances, though not by any means old 
practices. We find now, however, the people like 
more show. The v/orld advances, Alvarez?" 

"Indeed, yes. Manners can be outgrown, but I 
believe we'll find general principles remain the 
same." 

" Perhaps. We are a nation of steam and elec- 
tricity, and are nothing if we are not moving." 

"Activity I find to be the order of the day. I 
was jorepared for enterprise, but I must confess," 
said Alvarez, looking down at his soiled apparel, 
"that in certain directions, the energy shown is 
tremendous, not to say alarming. To move cer- 
tainly is good, to move always in the rigid direc- 
tion, is grand." 

" Well, sir, we have cast off most of the homely, 
primitive ways of our forefathers, and I may say 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 85 

that in all directions, business, politics, law, and 
religion, we are now pursuing a system quite our 
own." 

"All! I congratulate you and the American 
peoj^le. But I wished to ask you about some 
of the i^rinciioal points of interest in the city. 
Where shall I lind your great collections, your 
British Museum and your Louvre." 

"Ah! my dear sir, these things have no charm 
for us, as they don't pay. Our wish is to have 
things practical, useful. We have our factories, 
our machines, our hospitals, and our prisons. It is 
true there are some few scattering collections 
around, which you can find by searching in the 
jDapers, and I belive you could see some good por- 
traits of private individuals up at the Academy of 
Design." 

"Your historical objects must be interesting; 
your old landmarks, your — " 

" All gone, Sehor. You see, we are a progressive 
people, we cannot stand still. We don't wish land- 
marks, and we are impatient at anything growing 
old. Our principal point is to have everything re- 
munerative. If there is an old church and burying- 
ground in our way, we pull down and root out in 



86 THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

order to locate stores ; if there is a great hospital 
with its lawns and shade trees standing in our path 
it has to disappear, that we may put through a new 
street ; if we have an unnecessary i)ark where the 
people might get a breath of fresh air, we erect a 
great railroad depot." 

"I see. Everything is made useful. Things 
beautiful or venerable — " 

"Ah! ray dear sir, veneration is something we 
Americans find buys no goods and brings no returns. 
We are self-reliant, bold, pushing. We are taught 
to believe every one should look out for himself." 

Alvarez bov/ed and was silent for awhile. After 
a little more conversation between the gentlemen, 
Mr. Milman furnished our traveler with his Brook- 
lyn address, and also advanced some necessary 
funds. They shortly after iDarted, with a promise 
on Milman' s part to visit the travelers at the hotel 
at the first opportunity. 

Much pleased with the result of the interview, 
Alvarez passed out of the office with his son, giving 
the crusty clerk, whom he now found much more 
amiable, a smile as he went by, and stepped into the 
street. The wind had arisen, and was keen and cut- 
tino; as a knife. Great clouds of dust arose at inter- 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 87 

vals, and enveloped the passers-by as in a mantle. 
Anyone might easily have fallen into the belief that 
he was in the midst of the Sahara desert instead of 
the metropolis of a great nation. With eyes red and 
inflamed, choked with the dust, and scudding along 
before the blast, our travelers scarcely knew where 
they were going or what they were about. 

"Is it not possible to keep the streets cleaner, 
then % ' ' asked Juan of his father, as they pursued 
their course the best way they could. 

"It would cost a great deal of money, and per- 
haps the city could not afford it," replied the elder 
gentleman. 

They noticed in their rapid course that some 
streets had great hillocks in them, apparently col- 
lections of snow and mud, which had been there 
for months, at times partially thawing and then 
freezing up. The carts and other vehicles had 
great difficulty in passing one another, and could 
only do so with tremendous strain upon the horses, 
and perseverance on the part of the drivers, assisted 
by considerable blasphemy. 

At length they emerged into the open square in 
front of the new Post-Office, and seeing many 
horse-cars there, ventured, after some time spent iu 



88 THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

reading the inscriptions, to enter one and take 
seats. The car soon raiDidly filled up and started. 
Seeing two ladies enter at the further end, and 
watching awhile to see if the conductor would pro- 
vide them seats, as all the gentlemen seemed much 
engaged with their papers, our two travelers arose 
politely and, with a bow, offered theirs. 

When the conductor came throughj the bell- 
launch hanging from his neck attracted Juan's at- 
tention. 

' ' Is this another contrivance to keep men honest 
by machinery % " asked he of his father. 

" Perhaps to prevent involuntary mistakes. The 
Americans are an ingenious people." 

" Very good ; but if they are as infallible in vir- 
tue and wisdom as you have taught me, I don' t see 
why they should need these things." 

Alvarez was about to reply, but the car, which 
had been under considerable headway, suddenly 
stopped, and the poor gentleman, not having had 
experience enough in city car riding to hold on to 
the strap, measured his length on the floor, at the 
same time bowling down, as if they had been nine- 
pins, a half-dozen people who were also standing. 
One crusty old man, whose corns he had hurt 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 89 

rather shariDly, caught him by the coat-collar and 
yanked him to his feet. 

"Why in thunder don't you hang on to the 
strap % Blockhead ! " cried he. 

The astonished Alvarez gathered himself up, and 
clutched a strap desperately, while Juan adjusted 
his hat on his head. He reflected that it might 
have been a necessary requirement in some coun- 
tries to provide cars enough, and seats enough, for 
the passengers that wanted them. He failed to 
remember the intense energy and imj)atience of the 
American people, and that they never would have 
abided by any rule that occasioned a minute's delay. 
The passengers soon crowded in to such an extent 
that our elderly traveler began to be oppressed for 
breath. All the time the conductor kej^t hallooing : 

"Move up, gentleman, move up! Plenty of 
room ujj front." 

Alvarez looked curiously around to see where 
the vast extent of space was, that the active conduc- 
tor kept continually alluding to, and hopelessly 
failed to discover it. He was now wedged in diag- 
onally, and could not budge the sixteenth part of 
an inch, with the pestiferous breath of a Teuton 
saluting him upon one side, and an unsavory Afri- 



go THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 

can upon the other. Though suffering considerably 
he kept good-natured, and his curiosity was una- 
bated. He was anxious to know tlie full capacity 
of the caravan when the conductor and driver should 
be entirely satisfied, and refuse to receive more pas- 
sengers. He had observed on first entering that 
there were seats for twenty- two persons, and had 
very foolishly supposed this to be the entire capac- 
ity. What was his astonishment, therefore, upon 
partly counting and ]3artly estimating, he reckoned 
up sixty-six souls in the vehicle, all drawn by two 
horses. And still the ambitious conductor kept 
yelling to move up and make room for new arrivals. 
Alvarez saw through the interstices of the crowd, 
that the front and rear platforms were packed and 
crammed. Men were hanging on desperately, in 
the most varied positions, some had merely one foot 
on the step and one hand on the railing, others were 
apparently clinging to the car with their teeth. 
[ Not knowing exactly where to get out, and see- 
ing no earthly possibility of being able to do so 
even when he desired it, the Brazilian quietly 
resigned himself to his fate. In a short time the 
conductor proved himself to be quite a physical 
phenomenon by squeezing through the car after 



THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 91 

Alvarez had calculated that not even a knife-blade 
could have been inserted. As he wormed himseK 
by, our traveler requested to be put out at a certain 
street, and was answered impatiently by the con- 
ductor : 

"All right! Don't get in a sweat — not near 
there yet." 

As Alvarez could not readily help perspiring in 
his close quarters, he did not quite see how he 
could heed the injunction ; however, determined to 
be patient and wait. After a long time, people 
began to get out, to his great relief, and the car was 
soon comparatively empty. He then ventured to 
ask the conductor if they had not arrived at their 
destination yet. 

"Confound it, man! We're three miles past 
it." 

" Well, why didn't you tell me ?" 

"Why the deuce didn't you ask? You can't 
expect me to remember everything I hear. Here ! 
Get out and take that car coming." At the same 
time stopping his own car and almost thrusting our 
two travelers out in the street. 

Feeling as if he had spent a night between two 
mill-stones, and being a little fearful of ever regain- 



92 THE PEDLAR-AND-BEGGAR-BOUNCER. 



ing liis i^roper rotund shape, Alvarez wondered 
how the enlightened and re lined Americans could 
possibly tolerate with patience such a mode of 
locomotion. 




CHAPTER VII. 



THE WEARING OF THE GREETS". 




^T had snowed quite heavily during the 
night, so that when our travelers 
awoke and looked out in the morn- 
ing, the ground was covered by a 
thick white mantle. The sun came 
out during the day and not only raj)- 
idly converted the newly fallen snow 
into liquid jdooIs, but the collected 
heajos of ancient ice and frozen mud 
begin likewise to change their solidified character. 
The pure unsullied snow, direct from Heaven, was 
soon trampled and polluted by the touch of man, 
out of all resemblance to its original nature. 

Our two travelers sallied out as usual, immedi- 
ately after a late breakfast, on their march of obser- 
vation. To navigate the streets under the circum- 
stances named, required more skill than they 

[93] 



94 THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

imngined. Narrow ridges of jLce traversed, in eccen- 
tric angles from one sidewalk to another, great 
lakes of melted snow and mud. Streets in which 
car tracks were laid, were barricaded upon either 
side by great embankments thrown up by the car 
comx^anies, and which had lain there for months, 
blockading travel, and thawing and freezing in ac- 
cordance with changes in the atmosphere. In 
Broadway people went dashing through the reeking 
filth, in their efforts to escai)e the different vehicles, 
which were continually hurrying up and down. 
Policemen could be seen splashed from head to foot, 
in such a manner that it was impossible to tell what 
the original color of their uniforms had been. 
Amazed at the condition of things, Juan and his 
father continued floundering along on their course 
up town. Several times the old gentleman, always 
a little uncertain on his feet, had slipped around, 
cutting pigeon-wings on one leg, in the most alarm- 
ing manner. Juan, therefore, kept tight hold of 
him, in mortal dread that he would either break 
his neck or be drowned in the immense sloughs with 
whose depths he was unacquainted. He could not 
help retiecting in his own mind what a pity it was 
that the great city was not rich enough to afford a 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 95 

sufficient appropriation to devote to tlie streets. He 
admitted his inexperience, but Judged it was within 
the range of human possibility to keep them com- 
paratively clean and respectable for a reasonable 
amount of money, 

Neither could he account for the absence of 
criminals or paupers at work of this kind, except 
on the theory, based upon previous ideas from his 
father, that the city was fortunate enough to have 
no accumulation of this class of people. 

Somewhat later he was amazed to learn that New 
York had appropriated for years, more funds than 
almost any other city in the world for cleaning the 
streets, but that in some most unaccountable way, 
the thoroughfares never were cleaned. When the 
commissioners and people in authority claimed that 
they had not sufficient funds, more taxes were laid 
on for the purpose stated, but the streets seemed 
more obnoxious than ever. So that the strange 
anomaly appeared, that the more money there was 
raised to clean them, the more dirty the streets 
became. The commissioners grew rich, foreigners 
sneered, and the citizens grew desperate ; and still 
to find a man cleaning the streets was as rare as to 
see a shamrock with four leaves. 



96 THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

It was not many days thereafter that he also 
learned that the city swarmed with drunkards, 
tramps, paupers, and lesser criminals, who, instead 
of being made use of by being put to work, vrere 
comfortably housed and fed at the expense of the 
government — that is, the people. All these things 
amazed Juan, and he pondered long and deeply 
upon them. He had always had the utmost respect 
for the wisdom and learning of his father. Predis- 
posed to admire everything, and naturally of a 
buoyant, hopeful disposition, he had accepted all 
the statements of his enthusiastic parent with confi- 
dence and satisfaction. His credulity had been so 
repeatedly shocked by this time, however, that he 
began to grow suspicious and on his guard, at any 
presentation of facts not verified by his own experi- 
ence. How much greater would his astonishment 
have been, however, had he known that there were 
parties who not only required no approi^riation to 
keep the streets clean, but would actually pay for 
the privilege. 

They arrived after awhile in Union square, and 
paused to rest. They were streaked and spotted 
with mud, and very much exhausted by their phys- 
ical exertion, as well as by their mental anxiety. 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 97 

Alvarez was at once attracted by the bronze statues, 
and proceeding over to the noble representation of 
our great Washington, reverently took off his hat. 
Juan also looked uj) admiringly at the calm, hand- 
some, dignihed hero, gracefully seateel on horseback 
before him. 

When he had finished his silent admiration, 
Alvarez crossed to where the new statue of Lafay- 
ette stands, and eagerly spake : 

"You have read, Juan, of the noble conduct of 
this young French nobleman. When the colonies 
were struggling for their liberty, how gallantly he 
threw himself, heart and soul, into the cause of 
freedom and of right ! Here stands now^, in the 
metropolis of that nation which he helped so well to 
become great, free, and prosperous, a fitting monu- 
ment to his memory, erected by t]ie loving hands of 
a grateful country." 

Juan admitted the grace and sj^irit of the statue ; 
but, no doubt, his admiration for that grateful 
country would have been somewhat lessened had he 
known that there never had been the slightest 
memorial raised to the memory of the great patriot, 
by any American money or enterprise — that the 
statue in question was a gift from the French 



98 THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

people, and only more or less sullenly accepted even 
at that, 

Alvarez conld not, however, repress his enthu- 
siasm, and stood, soon after, with his son, before the 
the figure of our martyred President. Neither of 
them seemed quite sure of the identity of this last, 
and examined it for a while closely. 

"A strange figure," said Juan. 

"Yes," replied his father. "No doubt some 
great man of the country, but I cannot make him 
out. His countenance is certainly not hand- 
some." 

"But look at his clothes. He must have been 
an ancient character, as nobody in modern times 
has worn such pantaloons." 

"Probably one of the early Dutch founders of 
the city." 

As they were thus discussing the figure before 
them, they heard strains of martial music in the 
distance. They had observed groups of men, with 
green ribbons in their button-holes, hurrying in 
different directions, and now as they turned round 
and looked down Broadway they saw that the side- 
walks were lined with people in holiday garb, 
largely composed of women and babies. The 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 99 



policemen were rai^idly turning all vehicles into 
the side streets, and thrusting the people back. 

"Some great holiday evidently," said Alvarez. 
" We are fortunate to be here, my son." 

"No doubt, one of the American National cele- 
brations ; we must observe closely." 

They took their stands and waited, but were 
soon charged on by two policemen and rattled off 
toward the sidewalk. They endeavored to remon- 
strate or ascertain wdiy they could not stay where 
they were, but they were rushed out of the square 
in so lively a manner that they hardly had time to 
breathe, let alone speak. Shortly after, a dozen 
horsemen, with broad green sashes across their 
breasts, and high hats on, dashed into the square 
and glared around in the most savage manner. 
Two or three little boys, who, in the exuberance of 
youth, had ventured out a little beyond the curb- 
stone, they howled at so lustily that our travelers 
got the impression that the horsemen must be the 
owners of the square and the streets leading to it, 
and were only resenting trespasses upon their 
private property. 

The music grew louder and the tramp of horses 
and men splashing through the mud became more 



loo THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

distinct. Everyone was on tip-toe with expectation 
as the leading carriages approached. Great sillven 
green banners waved in the breeze, and one contin- 
uous tune seemed inspiring the wliole crowd. This 
music Alvarez heard so often that day that he was 
temjDted to ask the name of it, as well as the 
meaning of the inscription " Erin go bragh," which 
was multi]ilied a thousand times in all conceivable 
styles and places. The tune he was informed was 
called "Wearing of the Green," and appeared to 
be of such great merit that tlie celebrators seemed 
never to tire of it. As to the inscription alluded to, 
he could not get a satisfactor}^ explanation. 

He and Juan noted with great interest the dif- 
ferent members of the procession. In their opinion 
the uniform used was peculiar, consisting mainly of 
long-tail black coats, with green ribbons and high 
black hats. Although the hats were all of a silk 
and pasteboard nature known as plugs, still, upon 
closer view, they did not X)resent that strict uni- 
formity that at first was apparent. They were of 
all shapes, styles and conditions, some having evi- 
dently done service for years, and gone through 
many vicissitudes of fortune, while others were of a 
much more recent date. 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. loi 

The shaved, stubby faces, the square Jaws and 
immense mouths, api^eared more uniform than the 
heights of the footmen. To this i3oint they seemed 
to have paid little regard, as men six feet high were 
ranged alongside of those of four, so that the ranks 
resembled a range of irregular hills. The length of 
the procession appeared interminable, and our trav- 
elers reckoned that nearly the whole city must cer- 
tainly have turned out. After viewing the display 
of long coats, high hats, green ribbons, square jaws 
and big mouths, marching to that everlasting tune, 
Alvarez and Juan began to be a little weary, though 
still anxious to see it all. 

A clerk had stepped out of one of the stores 
and stood with his hands in his pockets and a 
pencil behind his ear. Juan ventured to accost 
him. 

" It is a great day with you here," said he. 

" Oh ! yes, muchly." 

"I should think you would close up all your 
stores and public buildings." 

"Well, they haven't quite come that yet, 
though they tried hard for it. I suppose they'll 
fetch it after a while. You'll find green flags flying 
from our City Hall down town, and the whole thing 



I02 THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

reviewed by the mayor. Many of the city authori- 
ties are in the procession now." 

"And still business don't stop ?" 

"We don't stop a sliow of trade ; but it actually 
has to stop. They take command of the streets, 
and there is so infernal many of them tramj^ing 
around all day, that nobody can get anywhere. 
We can't ship any goods, and customers can 
scarcely get in the store if they wanted to buy ever 
so much," 

"But I don't quite understand the object of the 
celebration," said Alvarez, coming up. 

"Why, my dear sir, these are the governing 
classes of the city, from whom our statesmen are 
drawn. Look there ! there goes Patrick Rafferty, 
he is in the Controller' s Office ; that red-haired fel- 
low is Mickey Donoghue, he is in the Board of 
Aldermen ; that open-faced duck there is Larry 
Dougherty, he is in the Mayor's Department — " 

"These are very strange names !" 

"Frenchmen." 

"Frenchmen! How so, and born in this coun- 
try?" 

"Born in this country! Why, man, some of 
them haven't been here a year yet." 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 103 

" Tliey must be men of genius, to master your 
la\vs and principles of government so soon. But 
are not the Americans able to govern themselves f 

"It seems not; the people like the imported 
article best, as they do in so many other direc- 
tions." 

Alvarez was silent for awhile, apparently revolv- 
ing this strange statement in his mind. 

"But is this your great day of Independence?" 

"Oh, no! not much! We've abandoned the 
celebration of that some time since. Some old 
women said the boys made too much noise, and our 
soldiers thought they would rather enjoy them- 
selves in the country that day, than turn out." 

"But what day is this then, that causes so 
much excitement in your city, and stops all busi- 
ness V 

" St.^Patrick's birthday." 

" Ah ! I see — a patron saint of the country." 

' ' Not at all. He never was here in the world, 
and we don't take any stock in saints, anyhow." 

" I have never heard or read of this holy man." 

' ' Well, very few other people, I' m thinking, 
although he may have been a very good man in his 



I04 THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 

sea, lie landed one morning and cleaned out e very- 
hoptoad and garter-snake there was there. I never 
found out just what else he did do." 

Alvarez was exceedingly puzzled, that the city 
of JSTew York should allow its streets to be monoi^o- 
lized for the best jDart of a business day, by a great 
procession, in honor of some mysterious foreign 
personage whom the bulk of the people knew noth- 
ing about and cared less. 

" Such is freedom !" exclaimed he. 
"Oh, yes," continued the wide-awake clerk. 
"But the freedom of our friends here, is like the 
handle of a jug — all one side. When a part of their 
countrymen turned out on another day, a year or so 
back, these green gents said they should not 
parade, and massed themselves along the route and 
on tops of the houses to stop them. Our military 
had to shoot about a hundred or so, with a lot of 
innocent lookers-on, before they cooled down. A 
nice lot ! Good-day !" 

Alvarez kept his place awhile as the clerk moved 
off. Suddenly feeling his hat knocked over his 
eyes, he glanced up quickly and saw it was done 
accidentally by a boy's boot as he slid down the 
lamp-post by him. Looking up farther, he saw the 



THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. 105 

himiD-post Avas full of boys as an apple tree with 
fruit, sitting and hanging on in the most perilous 
situations. A further more extended scrutiny, 
showed lamp-posts and trees, as far as eye could 
reach, loaded down with these enterprising young 
rascals. 

Later in the day, as our two travelers continued 
their peregrinations around town, they came across 
numerous stragglers from the great procession, ex- 
ceedingly unsteady in their gait, and very much 
battered in their appearance. Every once in awhile, 
devotees who had been more earnest than their fel- 
lows, were seen being marched off, covered with 
blood, between two policemen. It was a most puz- 
zling day for our travelers. Its object and its mode 
of celebration was a comple^te mystery. If Alvarez 
had been acquainted with a certain popular char- 
acter, he might have exclaimed ; " This is one of 

those things no fellow can find out." 
5* 



',izi^^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 




LVAREZ had read of the great ad- 
vance in Journalism of the present 
age, and as the nineteenth cen- 
tury had reached tlie ne i)lus 
ultra in the ability to gather and 
circulate news, so had the city of 
New York been able to boast, ac- 
cording to his information, the 
brightest lights in the great firma- 
ment of the press. Our Brazilian determined, 
therefore, to devote an entire morning, with Juan, 
to the study of the chief exi^onents of the great 
art. 

"The wonderful influence of the daily journals 
upon this country, my son," said he, imiDressively, 
"is almost incredible. In a nation where all read 

[106] 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 107 

tlie papers, as I am told, you may imagine the Iveeii 
intelligence tliat would naturally be fostered, and 
tlie telling effect tliat truth, properly presented, 
would have uiDon the masses. The swift lightning 
brings in news from all parts of the world, while 
the steam demons hasten from every direction with 
their loads of mail matter. Here shall Ave find jour- 
nalism in its perfection ; the truth gathered with 
energy, carefully sifted, and distributed i)ure and 
undefiled among the j^eople. Such is the force and 
influence of the press that bad men are pulled down 
and the virtuous brought to light and defended ; 
the government is assisted by their advice upon all 
possible occasions and ui)on every conceivable topic. 
Generals in the field, admirals on the ocean, as well 
as ministers in the cabinet, and officers in every de- 
partment, are shown their way out of difficulties, 
or mildly censured for getting in them. The vast 
accumulation of knowledge that an editor is obliged 
to have at his command, and stands ready to dis- 
play at a moment's warning, is most remarkable, 
and seems almost impossible for human brain to 
contain." 

Without saying more they entered the reading- 
room together, and Alvarez picking up the " Repub- 



io8 GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

lican Bugle," settled himself to read, while Juan 
seized on the "New York Luminary," which lay 
near at hand. The young man's astonishment in- 
creased as he read, and his previous opinions of men 
and things in the United States were very much dis- 
turbed. He had not believed there v/ere as many 
villainous characters in the whole country as he 
found there, upon a short i^erusal, i^ointed out in 
the very highest circles. Nor was he able, even 
after a jDrolonged search, to find a single soul men- 
tioned with praise except a certain deacon in a 
Western city, whose name he had not heard before. 

"There seems, father," remarked Juan, looking 
up from his paper after a long silence, "to be a 
particularly abandoned rascal living in a Tall Tovv^er, 
near the lower part of the city." 

"Indeed!" answered the older gentleman. 
"Some lawless fellow, likely, Avho has intrenched 
himself in his stronghold, and defies the i^ower of 
the goverment." 

"But that is what suri3rises me," continued the 
young man. "I have read of robber chieftains, 
making excursions from strong castles, but this was 
in the olden time, and I knew not there were 
Towers of this kind now in New York. This fel- 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 109 

low, however, seems to be but the base instrument 
of a deei^ scoundrel who remains himself concealed. 
'Tis strange! I should think the army would bring 
artillery to bear on the outlaw, and force liim to 
come dowai and surrender." 

"There are many strange things which need 
explanation in this countrj^, my son. We must 
have patience." 

Juan quietly continued his perusal, and was 
soon attracted by the troubles of a certain distin- 
guished nobleman, to whom a whole column was 
devoted. It appeared that a base conspiracy had 
been set on foot by his enemies to accomplish his 
ruin, and, among other things, one of the conspira- 
tors, more bold than the rest, had instigated repre- 
sentations of him, derogatory to his dignity, upon 
the public stage. This the count could only reach 
through the slow process of the law, as the coward 
refused to light. Another wretch had aimed his 
little shaft at the shining mark from a distance, by 
calling an Indian beggar on the plains, the Count 
Hernandez of the Prairie. This had called forth a 
series of bloody challenges and counter-challenges 
from the count, in being likened to the red man, and 
from the child of the forest in being likened to the 



no GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

count. The nobleman was evidently of a highly 
sensitive temperament, but he seemed to lose sight 
of the fact that it is the universal fate of greatness 
or merit to be attacked and maligned by a great 
multitude of ignoble and envious men, who every- 
where infest the walks of life. 

Continuing his perusal Juan was i^leased to find 
extracts from the works of a certain distinguished 
poet of a neighboring city, and read them with keen 
zest. He had heard of the poets of America from 
his mother, and had himself received, by the way of 
England, volumes of Longfellow, Bryant, and Whit- 
tier. The journal spoke of the productions with 
great praise, and in its criticism gave a few exam- 
ples, of which Juan transcribed the two following : 

"Let lightnings flash, and thunders roll! 
Let hurtling rain drops foam and hiss! 
No storm can fright his peaceful soul, 
For little Johnnie's gone to bliss." 

"Many years Amanda suflfered 
With cancer in the side, 
Until her fragile body succumbed, 
And quietly she died. 

" But now aloft in triple glory, 
Amanda calmly sails, 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. in 

While we below caa only send up 

Our unavailing wails. 
Gone to meet her lover." 

After the pleasant interruption of transcribing 
the verses, Juan continued his reading. When he 
struck the editorial department upon political 
events, he was surprised and shocked to see proofs 
of such wide-spread and deep-rooted villainy as 
were there laid bare. He read in amazement, para- 
graphs about the chief magistrate of the nation, 
like the following : 

"Not only has this debased creature, whose 
normal condition is intoxication, whose instincts are 
those of a bandit, the champion gift-taker of the 
world, not only has he run this government as if it 
were a corj)oration belonging to him and his family, 
but he is now covertly seeking to defy the will of 
the iDeople, and corrupt the chief officers of the 
army, in order to perpetuate his villainous rule." 

There were others equally as forcible about the 
leading members of the government. His surprise 
at the thought, that the American people would 
allow such a gang of low-bred and abandoned 
wretches to rule them, was only equalled by his 
wonder that the "powers that be" would permit 



112 GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

any newspaper to attack them in such outrageous 
terms. Not only was the policy of the administra- 
tion assailed and ridiculed without reserve, but the 
motives and personal character of each individual 
were attacked, and the President of more than forty 
million people made out a fit subject for the galleys. 

" Santa Maria !" exclaimed he, " what infamy !" 

"What's that!" said his father, looking ux3 
from a long and solemn perusal of his paper. 

" Why, my dear father, how is it that the coun- 
try allows such unmitigated scoundrels as now 
occupy the seat of government, to go unhung." 

" What rash words are you speaking, my son ? 
What do yon mean f ' 

"Mean! why from facts and figures here 
printed, and which seem ntterly unassailable, every 
one of them, from the President down, might read- 
ily be sent to State's prison for life, I do not 
understand it." 

"Neither do I understand it," responded his 
father, warmly. "I find statements in my paper 
that prove to my satisfaction, that the present 
administration is beyond reproach, and the govern- 
ment has never been so wisely, purely and econom- 
ically conducted as now." 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 113 

" But look liere, father ; I—" 

" Look there ! Look here, if yon please ! I am 
convinced, from a simple i)ernsal of this journal, 
that there is a lot of bad men out of ofSce, who are 
trying to get in and occupy the places of the 
jjatriots who now till them." 

' ' The iDroof s and statements here are to the 
effect that those bad men are already in office," 
persisted the young man. 

"Nonsense, Juan! You are young and not 
sui^posed to know the world. PerhaxDS the things 
you speak of have been written by some discon- 
tented, irresponsible fellow, who has been refused 
an office. But let us compare ; the ai)parent dis- 
crepancies may disappear upon a closer insj^ection." 

They drew their chairs together and began dili- 
gently comparing notes. Instead, however, of the 
difficulties disapi^earing, they seemed to multiply, 
and as each side appeared so positive and so well- 
supported by facts, the two anxious inquirers after 
the truth became very much bewildered. It was by 
one journal held as criminal and foolish for the 
Secretary of the Treasury to sell gold in Wall 
street, thereby making the government a party to 
reckless and dishonest speculation. It was by the 



114 GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

other shown tliat it was the only sensible thing 
the Secretary could do, only he did not sell nearly 
enough. The "Luminary" argued conclusively 
that the regular army, at that time reduced to about 
seventeen thousand men, w^as a vast host to be 
prejang upon the industries of forty million im- 
poverished x)eople, and likewise constituted a con- 
tinual menace, ready to be used, as it was, at a 
moment's warning, to aid a military despot to per- 
petuate his unholy power; while the "Bugle" 
reckoned it absurd that such a small force could 
guard efficiently so vast a territory, and protect 
the governmental property located at great distances 
apart. As to the standing menace, it ridiculed it 
completely. 

As the hopelessness of reconciling the stubborn 
facts and convincing theories set forth by the two 
Journals became more and more api^arent, our two 
travelers began to despair of understanding it, believ- 
ing they had not the key which native citizens must 
possess. Juan reflected that the journals under in- 
spection constituted but tioo, and these but in a sin- 
gle city. He had been informed that in this same 
city, were numberless others, morning, evening, 
weekly, semi- weekly, and monthly. And not only 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 115 

in this city, bat in every otlier city, town, hamlet, 
and crossroads of the Union, constituting in all a 
bewildering number of thousands. As each had 
their opinions, advice, and cautions ready for indi- 
vidual officers and the government at large, the tone 
of which, by the way, was frequently changing and 
irregular even in the same journal, Juan could not 
understand how any could go astray from want of 
information or counsel, if they would only give the 
matter proper attention. 

Alvarez had laid aside his paper and had taken 
up the great "Independent Crier." Unbeknown to 
him, he inadvertently commenced to read the quad- 
ruple advertising sheet, supposing it was the main 
body of the paper. The very first column surprised 
and i^erplexed him considerably. 

Under the head of "Personals" he read the 
most astounding and mysterious statements, aj)- 
peals, threats, invitations, and the like, whose 
import he' could in no wise make out. Proceeding, 
however, to the different heads, "Financial," "Bus- 
iness Opportunities," "Matrimonial," "Religious 
Notices," "Special Notices," and so forth, he 
became so deeply and hopelessly mystified that his 
countenance could not helj) exhibiting the different 



Ti6 GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

phases of Ms agitation. He found certain persons 
advertising themselves and their commodities in 
such a manner as might well cause astonishment in 
any one even more worldly-wise than himself. 

"I have watched well the sudden changes of 
your countenance, my father," said Juan. "I 
should like to see what you are reading." 

"Nay, Juan; it is nothing," replied Alvarez, 
hastily throwing the paper aside. "What have 
you there?" 

"I judged at first that I had so much news that 
there was certainly none left for any other j)aper." 
He held up, as he spoke, the "Crier" proper, which 
he had taken at the same time that his father had 
picked up the advertising x^ortion. 

Alvarez saw great headlines for almost every 
column, displayed in such a manner that they could 
easily be read without spectacles across the room. 
He was led to believe that the bigger the type the 
more important must be the news ; but upon inspec- 
tion he was a little disappointed to find the items of 
interest pretty much the same as he had already 
pernsed in the other papers. 

A little further reading, however, develojDed 
more comjpletely the unusual energy and enterprise 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 117 

of the journal, and showed it, conclusively, far 
ahead of all its rivals. Its emissaries were busy in 
all parts of the globe, from the sources of the Nile 
in the East, to the Mormon city in the far West. 
The gentleman working uj^ this latter matter had 
done his duty so fearlessly that his life had been 
thrice endangered by the infuriated apostles, all of 
which he had detailed in a communication, which 
that morning covered an entire page. Another 
hard-working gentleman was in a distant State, 
risking life and limb in an earnest endeavor to 
unearth a scientific mystery, which had long eluded 
the grasp of the naturalists. This account Alvarez 
read with breathless interest, and followed the 
traveler closely in imagination, sympathetically 
sharing all his hardships. In cutting through dense 
swamps, or clambering over mountains, he was 
with the exploring party in spirit, and when the 
leader shinned up a tall and isolated tree to gain a 
distant glimpse of the wished-for goal, our Brazilian 
felt himself going through the same severe exercise. 
The account ended here, but with a promise of an- 
other letter soon. Alvarez was anxious to know the 
result. 

Some days after this, our travelers had the good 



ti8 GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 

fortune to be shown all over the building where the 
great "Independent Crier" was published. It was 
toward morning, during the very fury of working off 
the daily edition. The great steam cylinder presses 
were whirling and clashing, and the whole build- 
ing seemed possessed of evil spirits. They went 
through all the rooms, and saw the process of type- 
setting, stereotyping, printing and all. But what 
was their surprise, to have pointed out to them in 
one of the editorial departments, a lean, cadaverous 
individual, who, with a wet towel around his head, 
was writing away in great agitation. They were 
informed that he was getting ready the second let- 
ter on the exploring expedition. lie had never 
been near the place he was writing about in his life, 
but so great were his talents and training, that it 
seemed to be quite unnecessary, and they were in- 
formed that herein consisted one of the great tri- 
umphs of journalism. 

The talented writer whose graphic pen had de- 
scribed the accidental breaking loose of the ferocious 
animals some time before was also pointed out to 
them. He happened to be, most singularly, the 
only person who had witnessed the appalling affair ; 
but his account of the carnage was so terrific that it 



GROPING FOR THE TRUTH. 119 

fairly dripped with gore. Those dreadful head-lines, 
"Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death," and so 
on, had sent a thrill of horror through the com- 
munity, from which it had taken days to recover. 
Many mothers had gone into convulsions, and sev- 
eral anxious fathers, upon reaching their places of 
business, had hurried home in agitation to keep 
their children out of the streets. The morning 
schools remained empty, and men with white lips 
moved anxiously from place to jDlace, looking 
nervously about them. However, the whole matter 
otherwise ended harmlessly, and was considered to 
be a good joke. 

Our travelers were much pleased with what they 
had seen, and more than ever impressed with the 
stirring enterprise of American Journalism. 




CHAPTER IX. 



HAVE MERCY ON US MISERABLE SINNERS. 




r^ y^P'^ss'^^j BRIGHT i^leasant Sunday morn- 
l^i^wii^ii S-' iiig saw our two travelers leis- 
urely strolling up Fifth avenue, 
on their way to a place of 
worship. Alvarez had of course 
been bred up in the Roman faith 
^^*^^f^r|^ of his father ; but he was not a 
bigoted man, and as he had 
attended mass at an early hour in 
the morning, he determined to devote the remainder 
of the day with his son, in visiting Protestant 
churches, which were more distinctively American. 
To float along with the tide of richly-dressed 
men and women, on that bright morning, past the 
glistening marble hotel which faced the open square 
and pleasant Park, and again under the shadow of 

[120] 



MERCY ON US MISERABLE SINNERS. 121 

tlie lordly mansions of brown stone, was enlivening 
and full of interest to a stranger. The distributing 
reservoir was reached, the handsome Jewish Syna- 
gogue passed, and at length they stopped before the 
unfinished but magnificent marble Cathedral which 
I)ointed its Gothic spires toward Heaven. Alvarez 
called Juan's attention to the liberal spirit prevail- 
ing among the people of the country, and the age 
which placed no let or hindrance on any man's 
religion, but let all worship as they pleased and 
build as they liked. Here, within a stone's throw of 
some great Protestant churches, on two of the most 
consi)icuous and valuable sites in the cit}", stood the 
Temi3les of Judah, and of Rome, free and unmo- 
lested. 

The cathedral, as Alvarez had been informed, was 
nearing completion slowly ; but he was proud to 
learn that it was being paid for as it rose upward, 
by contributions from the devout Catholics, rich and 
poor. All had a keen interest in. the great Mother 
Church, and in spite of much ignorance and preju- 
dice, which our traveler lamented, as observing at 
home, as well as in his travels, he could not help 
but feel that the humblest Romanist experienced a 
sense of property in the great united brotherhood, 



HAVE MERCY ON US 



and a superstitious awe and i)leasure in regarding 
the Church as his mother, exercising a watchful 
care over him individually, and stretching out her 
arms lovingly to receive him. 

At length, after some further wandering, the 
two Brazilians turned into a massive edifice, from 
which strains of exceedingly fine music were float- 
ing out in the open air. They entered res]Dectfully 
and stood in the back part awhile and listened. 
The clear, rich voice of the soprano, carrying the 
air of a well-known sacred masterpiece of music, 
filled the susceptible soul of the young Juan with 
wonder and delight. He felt himself insensibly 
carried ux)ward with those divine sounds to the 
company of the very angels in Heaven, and stood 
breathless in fear of losing a single note. The tenor 
Joined a few moments after, and finally the whole 
quartette assisted to swell the anthem and send it 
reverberating in harmonious melody throughout 
the spacious church. 

" How near one is brought to the Most High by 
divine music!" thought Juan. "Surely, no choir 
can sing like that which is not filled with the true 
spirit of worship, and feel devoutly what they 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 123 

Our travelers, after watching awhile the crowd of 
most richly dressed i:)ersons, who continued to flock 
in the church, and noticing the fine broadcloths, 
the exi3ensive laces, silks, and velvets, the glisten- 
ing diamonds and heavy chains of curiously- wrought 
gold, judged that these j^ersons must be under some 
strange delusion, as certain savages are represented 
to be, about their not being accei^tible to the Holy 
Spirit, unless decorated in some peculiar manner. 
He noticed the ladies, in particular, gave each other 
most searching glances as they passed, as if being 
fearful that some detail had been omitted which 
ought to appear, or something had been done which 
should have been left undone. 

The strangers finally procured seats up stairs in 
the rear of the church, and sat quietly during the 
service. As the gorgeous congregation knelt in 
prayer, and rex")eated after the minister, "Lord, 
have mercy on us, miserable sinners," Alvarez gazed 
curiously around, endeavoring to find some sjieci- 
men of the abandoned wretches that Jesiis of 
Nazareth came down to save. He looked in vain, 
however, for any evidence of poverty or distress, 
and judged, finally, that the church must be some 
higher grade of worship to which poor people were 



124 HAVE MERCY ON US 

not admitted. He was informed later that those 
softly-cashioned pews, which were most desirably- 
located, commanded the most fabulous prices — from 
one thousand to twenty thousand dollars, for owner- 
ship, and a heavy yearly ground-rent beside. Many 
of the holders seemed to intend, according to Alva- 
rez' s idea of it, to take with them after this life 
enough funds to secure an equally desirable location 
in Heaven, apart from any poorly-clad and unsa- 
vor}^ vagabonds that might be hanging around unin- 
vited. 

The service being ended, the sermon began. As 
Juan was seated near where the choir was located, 
he had followed it throughout with rapt attention. 
The musical duties being over for quite awhile, after 
the minister began reading his lecture, the heavy 
curtains around and in front of the organ were 
closely drawn. After a short time Juan thought he 
heard sounds of suppressed merriment behind the 
crimson folds, and gazing curiously from a short 
distance, through a vacant space which had been in- 
advertently left, he was surprised to see each mem- 
ber of the quartette, and the organist, with a glass 
of wine, silently drinking one another's health. 
The heavenly soprano emptied her glass with great 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 125 

apparent relish, and somewhat of a smack. This 
little ^performance ended, Juan was horrified to see a 
newspaper, with extremely loud illustrations, jDro- 
duced for examination, with the young tenor leaning 
most affectionately over the shoulder of the not un- 
willing alto. Juan's faith in the deep devotion of 
that choir was more or less shaken. Heretofore his 
short experience of the rude world had not led him 
to believe that inspiration does not always come 
direct from Heaven, but may frequently aj^pear 
through the medium of dollars and cents, and some- 
times by the assistance of ardent spirits. 

When the sermon was over, and the services of 
the choir were again called in requisition, that won- 
derful soprano, that melodious tenor, v/ith the clear 
alto and deep baritone, accompanied by the sympa- 
thetic organ, filled the church with music as grandly 
beautiful and harmonious as ever ; but its charm was 
gone for Juan as he walked with his father sadly 
down the stair and out into the street. 

A stroll down Fifth avenue as the different 
churches along the route were emptying out their 
occupants was more lively than before. The side- 
walks on both sides the thoroughfare were thronged, 
while gay carriages filled the centre of the street 



ami. r^z : rr iz- 



JUSL ^^T»r 3'JaiL- ~TK - TT i v;.!! ^ "- 



IHMT^ Tatf ilL L -^ rmr i rj^ssi Tmyr -^n^ 



TSipr :iiTje«saja. HL xuwziL -n^su^inisii: sec!]ac«e^> 



TTWit;. T FTn ivn^ rTT-r]r yffmr nt 'ter- li»ry . 



MISERABLE SIXXERS. 127 

woman, me;uirime, was slowly griiidiug out some 
doleful and discordant notes in a low, monotonous 
tone, from a little battered miniature of an organ, 
which ivsted on the ground in front of her. It was 
a strangely incongruous picture, formed by these 
miserable waifs of humanity in the foreground, with 
the givat, glistening, stately church rising up be- 
hind. 

A handsome caiTiage, with a driver and footman 
in livery, drove up to the entrance. The latter 
quickly jumped down and opened the door of the 
coach, from which a portlj' gentleman of advanced 
years stepped, followed by a richly-di^essed lady, 
appai-ently his daughter, whom he assisted to 
alight. A black cloud spread over the features of 
the gentleman as his eye caught the crouching 
woman, with her diity little ones. 

"Damme I What's this f muttered he to him- 
self. "Jones should be on the lookout better than 
this. Here you ! get along out of that ! Bless 
my heai't I it's no good to try to help these aban- 
doned vagabonds. We raised a liundred and tifty 
thousand dollars last year to help them along, and 
there seems to be more p(3or than ever, and the 
moi^e you give them the lazier they get." 



HAVE MERCY ON US 



Just then the policeman sauntered up. 

"Here, officer," cried the irascible old gentle- 
man, "drive this woman and her wretched cubs 
away from here. The audacious beggar ! to come 
here right in front of the church-door with her in- 
fernal instrument. Away with her !" 

The policeman motioned with his club for the 
outcast to take her load and move on, which she 
slowly proceeded to get herself together and obey, 
while the offended church-member, swelling with 
indignation, entered the sacred edifice and pro- 
ceeded to his comfortable cushioned seat. 

Juan watched the retreating form of the poor 
woman, and wondered what thoughts were working 
through her dull and sluggish mind, and what con- 
ception she could possibly have of that Saviour 
who came down from Heaven to rescue her from 
destruction, and in whose honor the great church 
bearing aloft the sacred cross had been raised. 
That church was nothing to her, that Saviour she 
had never known or heard about ; she had only 
reckoned, in her blind, vague way, that there would 
be a crowd there, and she might pick up a few 
sorry coins by stationing herself near. 

Alvarez, with his son, stepped into the vestibule 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 129 

of the church, and stood a few moments. Several 
others were also standing around irresolute, A no- 
tice stated that strangers should ask the sexton for 
seats, but as Alvarez saw no one that appeared to be 
the sexton, or any one that gave any answer to his 
general glance of inquiry, he presumed the func- 
tionary was inside. A large, well-exjDanded in- 
dividual was sea.ted comfortably out there, gazing 
around superciliously on the people, and although 
our traveler could not determine just what his office 
was, he judged that he could not i)0ssibly be an 
under-servant of the church. He thought, rather, 
from the gentleman's lordly ajDpearance and man- 
ner, that he must be part owner or something 
extremely elevated. Our travelers, therefore, 
stepped inside, but had hardly been there two 
seconds, when an under-sexton pounced in on them, 
and hustled them out. 

" Wait outside, will you?" said he, in a savage 
whisper. 

As Alvarez and Juan proceeded into the vesti- 
bule again, the lordly gentleman seated there, who 
turned out to be the head-sexton, gave them a warn- 
ing glance, and held up his fat forefinger, at which 
glance and action they felt considerably awed. 



I30 HAVE MERCY ON US 

Two other gentlemen entered from the street, 
and after standing around a few moments, stepped 
up to the inner door, and pushing it open an inch 
or so, peeped into the body of the church. This 
audacity seemed to irritate the corpulent gentleman 
almost beyond endurance. 

"Don't stand round the door there !" cried he, 
in sharp tones. " Step back, can't you V 

His features were knotted in an unsightly frown, 
but changed most rapidly as a wealthy lady and 
gentleman, pew owners, entered, having just 
alighted from their carriage. Radiant smiles 
wreathed his countenance as he hastily arose and 
showed them to their seats. Members now began 
to arrive rapidly, but after awhile stopjDed with 
plenty of pews still vacant. After our travelers had 
waited around about three-quarters of an hour in 
all, the florid gentleman beamed upon them, and a 
land permission was given for two to enter, the 
other strangers being rigidly frowned back. The 
latter only succeeded in getting in after consider- 
able more delay and much difficulty, although the 
building at last was but about two-thirds full. 

The minister, in his discourse, made some allu- 
sion to the inhospitality of his church, and lamented 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 131 

it extremely, but seemed powerless to help it. In 
fact, the full-blown individual who stationed him- 
self out in the vestibule, as Captain Manyatt used to 
describe the commandant of a frigate planting him- 
self on quarter-deck, seemed the real master of the 
situation. In an issue, as Alvarez was afterwards 
informed, which had arisen some time back, 
whereby some little effort had been made on the 
part of the pastor to oust the doughty sexton, the 
latter had confidently asserted that if either went it 
would be the preacher and not him. The result 
proved that both stayed, with the officer at the 
entrance of the church overshadowing the one at 
the altar in a very marked degree. The sexton had 
made himself useful and agreeable to the ladies of 
the congregation ; so much so, that the wives and 
daughters of the hundred millions or more of capi- 
tal represented there could not spare him — and he 
stayed. 

From the reception they had received, and the 
general air of the congregation throughout, our 
travelers had from the first a most uncomfortable 
sensation of being interlopers and intruders. They 
felt that they were not wanted, and that the manner 
of the congregation indicated plainly that they con- 



132 HAVE MERCY ON US 

sidered it unwarranted presumxDtion on the part of 
any outsider not having a pew of his own to want to 
come in and worship the Almighty in that building. 
Our Brazilians, therefore, exi^erienced a sensation of, 
relief upon getting outside and wending their way 
back to their hotel. 

In looking over a morning paper Alvarez saw 
that a divine at another church had advertised to 
preach on a certain subject that evening upon which 
he was anxious to hear a Protestant x^astor dilate. 
He therefore concluded with Juan to venture once 
more. Half-past seven found them comfortably 
seated in a spacious, well-filled church. They had 
been admitted and ushered to a seat cordially and 
without delay. The service was interesting and 
elevating, and our travelers were well pleased. At 
the close of the service, however, when they were 
confidently expecting the sermon, the pastor came 
forward with a few remarks, stating that in conse- 
quence of more important business, the sermon 
would be indefinitely postponed. He stated that 
the congregation was aware of the great debt under 
which the church groaned, a debt aggregating 
nearly a quarter of a million dollars. He called to 
mind the manly hopefulness and faith with which 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 133 

the members had united to pull down the old 
edifice, which, thougli very good in its way, was 
scarcely of sufficient dignity for a i3roper worship of 
Almighty God, and had gloriously incurred the 
great debt aforesaid. That debt, wliich they had 
already attacked valiantly in the morning, they were 
now going to make an effort to pay off entirely that 
night ; and to this end he introduced to them Mr. 
Ferguson, who had agreed to lend his valuable as- 
sistance. As a tall, dark man arose and stepi^ed 
ujD in front of the church, a gentleman who sat next 
to Alvarez exclaimed : 

"By jingo! Ferguson has got along here, too, 
eh!" 

"Why, where did he come from '^" asked our 
Brazilian, with considerable interest. 

"Come from! Why he's all over, from Cali- 
fornia to Massachusetts." 

"And his business f 

"Is paying off church debts." 

' ' Will his fortune be sufficient to pay them all off ?' ' 

" Fortune ! He hasn't any fortune. He is a trav- 
eling salesman for a factory, but has a most remark- 
able faculty for raising money for other people." 

"An unusual faculty, truly." 



134 HAVE MERCY ON US 

" You see," continued the stranger to Alvarez in 
a whisper, "nine out of ten of the churches built 
within the last twenty years, have been built largely 
on faith and without funds. It is usually calcu- 
lated that a handsome church with an eloquent 
minister and fine choir will soon draw a paying 
congregation, while a humble edifice with inferior 
accompaniments would stand empty for years. A 
large majority of churches, being shingled all over 
with mortgages, are powerless for outside good, 
having all they can do to raise their interest money. 
Some church-goers are proud of their debt, and 
actually reckon it a benefit, as tending to concen- 
trate work and effort. Besides this, when ap- 
proached for other charitable objects they can 
always say, 'Ah! there's our debt, you know ; we 
must take care of that.' In a very great many of 
our church edifices, the expounding of God' s word 
is so intermixed with desperate appeals for money, 
to stave off foreclosures and pay running expenses, 
that it is to some people rather discouraging. 
There is a general tendency among Protestant con- 
gregations, if any portion becomes dissatisfied, to 
split up and set up a church on their own account, 
no matter what it costs." 



MISERABLE SINNERS. 135 

The wliispered conversation was here inter- 
rupted by the interest excited by Mr. Ferguson's 
novel method of taking hold. He began by secur- 
ing the services of eighteen canvassers to work on 
the main floor, and six to run the galleries, while a 
secretary was at hand to record the subscriptions as 
they came in. The first call was for ten pledges of 
ten thousand dollars each, of which he, Mr. Fer- 
guson, was authorized to make up the three last. 
These came in slowly, but when the fund pledged 
had reached $70,000, a second call was issued for 
twelve five-thousand-dollar obligations, of which 
the speaker stood ready to put up the eleventh and 
twelfth. As the session had already lasted long be- 
yond the usual time, some began to be uneasy and 
commenced leaving ; but the pastor arose and most 
earnestly exhorted the congregation to keep their 
seats, and not humiliate him by going. Most, 
therefore, kei)t quiet, our Brazilians among the 
number, as hour after hour sped away. During 
this time, the pastor prayed, the manager gave 
interesting reminiscences of his former successes, 
and the canvassers continued busily at work. It 
was nearly midnight before further effort was aban- 
doned, and the congregation finally dismissed. As 



136 MERCY ON US MISERABLE SINNERS. 

our astonished travelers wended their way out, Al- 
varez could not help thinking that although it was 
a glorious thing to pay off a debt, it was a wiser 
to keep out of it altogether, and "owe no man 
anything." 




CHAPTER X. 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 



JxM^^^ AUNTERING around in the neigli- 
l^^-^"^jir^ Centre street, a few mornings 



borlioocl of the City Prison in 



^^^::^t^.vV\ after, Alvarez and Juan were 

r^*:^ 'T/ilf^ overtaken by their old acquain- 

6 *^;y /'x vC^ tance Blodson, who, it seemed, 

^^Si'-^y'-ft"^ practiced considerably in the 

SV^ courts there, in the defense of 

oppressed citizens. 

"Ah, Senor !" cried the attorney, "still in the 

city, eh ! Are you ready to go ahead with that 

prosecution?" 

"I am still here, for one can't see all there is to 
seen in a hurry. I find there is much to learn." 

" Many things are more curious than we sup- 
posed," said Juan, emphatically. 

[137] 



133 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

" But I have decided not to go to law just yet," 
said Alvarez. 

"All! Well, would you like to investigate our 
Tombs?" 

" Tombs ! What ! Have you Catacombs, then ?" 
" Not at all. The prison here, I mean." 
Our travelers looked up and saw lowering down 
upon them a dark gloomy structure of gray stone ; 
it seemed solemn enough and threatening enough 
to be the receptacle of the dead. They expressed 
their desire to see the interior of the prison, as 
they ascended together the steep flight of steps 
leading to the court rooms. Blodson, telling them 
to wait a moment, disappeared, and returning 
shortly after, brought with him three tickets from 
one of the judges, allowing them admission. The law- 
yer, stating he had a short time to spare, agreed to 
accompany them, so they proceeded round the 
corner to the entrance in Franklin street, and were 
soon admitted to the court yard of the jail. 

A feeling of terror smote upon the young soul of 
Juan, and his breath came thick and short. He 
had a vague foreboding of something occurring 
which might prevent him from getting out. He 
might lose his ticket and the gate-keepers refuse to 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 139 

allow Mm to pass ; he therefore clutched it in his 
hand desperately, and held that hand in his pocket. 

Carpenters were putting up a triple gallows in . 
the yard, the sound of their hammers being borne 
in to the ears of the condemned men on the lower 
tier of cells. 

" There is to be an execution," said Alvarez in a 
whisper to the lawyer, 

"Yes, three low negroes, about half animals, 
murdered a poor pedlar in the woods a short time 
ago, and they are now to suffer the penalty." 

" Three lives for one, and so soon ! Your death 
punishment here is swift and sure." 

"That depends," coolly remarked Blodson. 
"These chaiDS were poor and had no friends, and 
the court i3ut 'em right through without delay. 
But let us enter." 

They were admitted by another keeper, and 
mounted a pair of iron stairs to the second tier. 
There our two travelers walked mournfully along, 
gazing in the different cells at human beings who 
appeared as wild animals in cages. They stopped a 
moment before one cell which had a carpet on, a 
handsome bed covering, and altogether appeared 
tolerably luxurious. A good-looking and fashiona- 



I40 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

bly-dressed young man was standing up, smoking 
and reading a paper. He sliut his inner iron door 
quickly when he saw he was being gazed at. Upon 
inqniry, Alvarez learned that he was a celebrated 
gentleman, who had calmly waited for his victim, 
and deliberately taking aim with his pistol, fired 
twice, threw aside the weapon, and walked away. 

"Now under sentence of death, I suppose?" 

"Not at all. Had i:)lenty of money to engage 
talent. Money can do anything, my friend." 

"What defense could he possibly have? Me- 
thinks he would have Ibeen tried at once, and a 
verdict rendered in a few hours." 

" Ah ! but his lawyers understood human nature 
too well. They fought hard for delay, and got it, 
and delay cooled off the interest in the matter, and 
the public thirst for vengeance. But even then, on 
the first trial, he was convicted ; so his lawyers 
entered the plea of new evidence, and he was granted 
a new trial." 

"But they haven't cleared him ?" 

"Not quite ; but next to it. They finally proved 
to the satisfaction of the Jury that it was not the 
prisoner who killed the deceased at all, but the 
doctors, in probing for the ball. So, after a delay 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 141 



of some three years a verdict of manslaughter was 
brought in with a sentence of a short imprisonment, 
which imprisonment his lawyers made a move to 
curtail by deducting all the time he had been in jail 
already, waiting his numerous hearings and trials. 
He is about to go up to Sing Sing now, to keep 
books, or do something or other equally as arduous." 

" Strange ! And this is justice 'P 

"Certainly. Nobody need be hung for murder 
here that has friends enough and money enough. 
Justice may be blind, but she can always manage to 
hear the shekels jingle in the rich man's pocket." 

Alvarez pondered this saying as they mounted 
up to another tier and continued their mournful 
walk around. Still another tier of cells above this 
brought them to the more moderate offenders, where 
two or three were conlined in the same cage. As they 
descended and came out once more into the prison- 
yard, the large gates were opened, and the ' ' black 
Maria," entered, laden with prisoners from the dif- 
ferent station-houses at a distance. Our two travel- 
ers stood one side with their companion, and 
watched the unloading of the dilapidated wretches, 
handcuffed two by two. Little did Alvarez suppose 
that in a short time he would be an occupant of this 



142 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

very conveyance, and enter a prisoner into this very 
court. As they emerged into the street the two 
strangers gave vent to a sigh of relief, and breathed 
free once more, 

Blodson said he would have to return to his office 
in Nassau street, and his two companions said they 
would accompany him part of the way. When they 
reached the corner of Chambers street a great black- 
ened marble building toward Broadway attracted 
Alvarez' s attention. It had a huge barn-like wooden 
structure on toj), and, being all jagged and incom- 
plete, puzzled our Brazilian not a little. 

' ' Is this another prison, a Quaker meeting-house, 
or what ?" asked he. 

"My dear sir," replied Blodson, "it is the most 
celebrated building in the land. It has taken over 
ten years' time and more than twelve millions in 
money to get it along so far, and still it is incom- 
plete." 

"Why, sir, you surprise me. I would not have 
supposed it." 

" And no one else not acquainted with the circum- 
stances. The bills rendered the city show that 11,000 
yards of carpet at an average cost of sixty dol- 
lars a yard have been spread upon its ample floors, 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 143 

2,000 window shades at one hundred dollars each 
have tempered the light of the glaring sun, while 
10,000 chairs at one hundred and seventy-five dol- 
lars apiece were provided for the weary limbs of 
the toilers of the law, with 1,000 desks at a thou- 
sand dollars each, and all other things in the same 
grand proportion. ' ' 

"Whatf exclaimed the Brazilian, in astonish- 
ment, starting forward. "■ Do you hear this, Juan ! 
Let us hasten to view these splendors. Not the 
ancient wonders of the Temple at Jerusalem could 
sui^ass this. Are they accessible to all?" inquired 
he eagerly of Blodson. 

" Not so fast ! I said these bills were paid, not 
that the goods were ever actually furnished." 

" Certainly a distinction with a difference." 

"Just so." 

"But I do not understand how so much money 
could be paid, and the goods not all delivered." 

" Very few could for a long time — the process is 
now found to have been very simple." 

"Have you no officers appointed to see that the 
people receive what they pay for." 

' ' Oh, yes ! Several signatures are required 
before bills can be paid ; but in this case everything 



144 1'HE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

was found all straight and legal, with the right 
names all in the proper i^laces. It is the safeguard 
of our liberties, Sehor, to abide by the forms of the 
law." 

" True ; but it is not clear how it all was brought 
about. It strikes me as impossible ever to have 
perpetrated such a wrong." 

"All! my dear sir, the world progresses. In 
the clumsy times of the early Kepublic men were 
children in the art of ruling. The present refine- 
ment in our official life is the outgrowth of our civ- 
ilization, and the blossoming of our method of 
legislation. Why, my dear sir, this city has now 
some three thousand laws, and over one hundred 
millions of debt." 

"I presume, of course, as knowledge advanced 
methods must have improved," said the Brazilian, 
decidedly. 

"Just so," said Blodson, laconically. "Yon 
see one of our political parties here is run by an 
organization, more or less secret, of which the head 
sachem is absolute chief, and dictates his will to that 
party with the positiveness of the sultan of Turkey." 

"And this in a free representative govern- 
ment ?" 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 145 

"Precisely. The statesman in the case before 
ITS, at that time the iDotentate which I hinted at, 
occupied certain offices himself — nearly a dozen, I 
believe, all told — others of the organization filled 
the chief positions in the city, while a iDrotege 
sat in the governor's chair. The details were easily 
arranged." 

Alvarez, who was anxious to learn all he could 
of this matter, as with all other matters connected 
with tlie American i^eople, whom he had always ad- 
mired so much, could not get full satisfaction. 
The transactions were envelojDed in a vague cloud 
of mj^stery which he could not seem to penetrate. 

" Stop a moment !" said Blodson, suddenly, as 
if recollecting himself. " Suppose we step into the 
council room here, and you can see the great states- 
man himself, now on exhibition." 

Our Brazilians complied with alacrity, and cross- 
ing over to the City Hall, were soon (m the 
threshold of the sacred chamber. Taking off their 
hats they entered on Lip-toe and looked around. 
The council was assembled, solemnly presided over 
by a dignified chairman, who seemed, from muscle 
and features displayed, rather more able to fell an 
ox than to promulgate rulings to a legislative body. 



146 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 



Two or three of the members Alvarez recollected to 
have seen on horseback or in carriages during the 
procession of the long tails and high hats of St. 
Patrick's day, while some of the others, he judged 
must certainly be near relatives to a few of the 
unfortunates he had Just left at the Tombs. 

" These, I take it," said Alvarez to Blodson in a 
whisper, "are the representatives of your best 
citizens." 

"Not at all. They are politicians." 

"Politicians !" 

"Certainly. You must know there are differ- 
ent professions and walks in life. My neighbor is a 
merchant, my brother a doctor, I am a lawyer, 
these are j)oliticians. The world owes us all a liv- 
ing, and each one has his fancy how to get it." 

"But are they a class distinct and not chosen 
from among your wisest and best ?" inquired Juan, 
eagerly. 

" Most assuredly. Our best citizens would hesi- 
tate to associate Avith these." 

" And do they allow themselves to be governed, 
and their money ax)propriated, by men they would 
not notice socially f persisted the young man. 

"Nay, Juan," put in Alvarez, reddening a lit- 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 147 

tie. " Do not annoy our friend by too many ques- 
tions." 

The examination was going forward in a free- 
and-easy manner, one of the city fathers bearing 
the burden of the questioning. The great states- 
man sat in his easy chair and looked smilingly 
around, apparently not at all awed by the august 
assemblage which had him in charge. The ques- 
tioner once in a while gave vent to some rather 
forcible interjections, as "This won't go down," 
"Eather too thin," or "Never mind whose corns 
you tread on, spit it out," and so on. Cigars were 
being smoked, tobacco juice squirted around, and 
the air was redolent with the fumes of whisky and 
beer. 

Alvarez listened with great interest to the testi- 
mony of the keen jovial old gentleman, as he every 
once in awhile hit off a joke that set the company 
in a roar. His statonient as to his methods of buy- 
ing up votes at the State Capital, as well as the 
various prices paid, were made with as much indif^ 
ference, and quite as much as a matter of course 
as a farmer would discuss the purchase of sheep. 
What seemed to add greater zest to his narra- 
tive, to those by whom he was questioned, as 



148 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

well as to himself, was the fact that his principal 
purchases had been made among the members of 
the opposite political party, which x^arty had all 
along pretended to much greater virtue than his 
own. This furnished material for several very good 
jokes upon the i)art of the narrator. 

Alvarez continued to listen in wonder somewhat 
akin to fear, as the political methods by which a 
great city Avas governed, and a legislature was 
bought up, proceeded to be unfolded. The story 
seemed so strange, involving as it did, so many 
officials, so many merchants in supposed good 
standing, so many judges on the bench and editors 
at their posts, so many individuals in all the 
walks of life, as to be almost beyond belief. Once 
our Brazilian would have withdrawn, desiring to 
keep from Juan's ears the unholy tale, but the 
young man insisted ux)on staying, saying they 
had come to investigate fully American affairs, and 
did not wish to leave anything unlearned. 

Never would he have supposed that the Avitness 
before them was the originator, ringleader, head- 
pusher, in the whole system of plunder and corrui:)- 
tion, and sat there a self-convicted thief. He 
imagined that a certain sense of shame and repent- 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 149 

ance would have overwhelmed and broken down the 
old man, and that those around him would have 
shrunk away in horror, or regarded him as some 
unusual monstrosity of nature. But, on the con- 
trary, the unblushing effrontery, the self-possession, 
not to say self-satisfaction of the former chief, as 
well as the easy familiarity of his inquisitors, the ex- 
change of Jokes, and the general good-nature pre- 
vailing as one reputation after another was black- 
ened, and one iniquity after another was unfolded, 
surpassed anything that might have been conceived. 
The statesman was given a short respite to look 
over his papers, and see that he did not injure any 
one of his party that might be on the ticket which 
was about to be run, and in the mean time an expert 
in book-keeping was called in. This gentleman's 
testimony was to the effect that the combination of 
the city office-holders, during the three years and 
a half in which they had had full power, had, 
according to his careful investigations, succeeded in 
despoiling the city and putting in their own 
pockets about $26,500,000. The whole had been 
done according to strict legal forms on the face, by 
a system of raising bills, forty, fifty, sixty x^er cent, 
above their true value, and having all such bills 



I50 THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 

audited as correct. If there liai^pened to be any 
law in force interfering with their operations, they 
promptly went to Albany and had the old law 
repealed or a new one passed, always ascertaining 
and ]3aying the cost of such passage. For six years 
the city had been in full possession of all the facts, 
and employed able talent to prosecute its claims, 
but uj) to that time had recovered less than 
$700,000, at a cost of about a quarter of a million, 
and this mostly by most shameful comi)romises 
with certain of the thieves. 

Blodson had left the council chamber a short 
time after entering, but the two travelers remained 
till the end of the session. Before leaving, they 
learned not only the miserable pecuniary results of 
the long, cumbersome litigations, but saw also the 
moral effect that must have been exerted in the long 
delays, the negotiations, the guarantees, the re- 
leases, and the legal whitewashings. One of the 
conspirators, at the time, was riding in his carriage 
in ostentatious luxury, another accepting compli- 
ments from the bench, a third in a foreign country 
coolly negotiating with the officers of justice here, 
while the leader of the whole sat quietly cracking 
Jokes with the common council, and haggling over 



THE IDYLS OF THE RING. 



151 



the conditions of his release. Altogether, it was a 
sad and bitter experience for our earnest and honest 
travelei's, and they felt subdued and unhappy as 
they turned to leave the room. 




CHAPTER XL 



AN ATTACK OJST THE DEVIL. 




NOTHER week liad passed away, 
and our two Brazilians, father and 
son, had continued tlieir pere- 
grinations and investigations. 
Many mishaps had befallen them, 
many surprises had awaited them 
on every hand. When Sunday 
arrived once more, they resolved 
to cross the river, and pass it in 
the great City of Churches, of which they had heard 
so much. They had not been altogether j^leased 
with tlieir experience in the fashionable houses of 
worship in the metropolis, but they had understood 
that, in the sister city, things Were conducted in a 
much more humble and primitive manner. The 
most famous i^reacher there, they were told, was 

[153] 



AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 153 

the Reverend Edward Hale Belcher, though just for 
what reason he was famous, they did not fully 
understand. They resolved, however, to visit his 
church. 

They started early, and proceeded down to Ful- 
ton Ferry. The boat was tolerably full, and as the 
morning was bright, they stood outside the ladies' 
cabin astern. Just as the iron gates were closed, 
and the boat about to start, several men, aj^parently 
in the most frenzied hurry, rushed through the 
outer entrance, clambered over the bristling spikes, 
at the risk of impaling themselves, and hastening to 
the brink of the dock, leaped after the retreating 
boat. The toes of one of the last individuals just 
striking the edge, he fell forward, and losing his 
balance, would have gone overboard, had not Juan 
grabbed him by the coat collar and hauled him on 
the boat. Breathless, and his clothing torn, the 
eager gentleman clung to the chain-post until he 
could recover himself a little. 

Alvarez supposed he must be some physician, on 
the way to a patient dangerously ill, or some official 
behind time and endeavorkig to keep an important 
engagement, or at least some one having the most 
urgent and valuable business to attend to, that he 



154 AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 

would thus so recklessly risk his life to catch the 
boat, when, as the Brazilian understood, there 
would be another in so short a time. Judge of 
our traveler's surprise, therefore, when upon some 
respectful questioning, he found him only to be on 
his way to a friend's house, with whom he intended 
spending the day, and there was not the slightest 
need of hurry. He was told, furthermore, shortly 
after, that many risked their lives and limbs daily 
in frantic endeavors to catch a boat and reach the 
other side a few minutes sooner, when they usually 
had not the slightest use for the time so gained, 
and, in fact, experienced diflBiculty, in some cases, 
to kill time at all. 

The massive stone towers of the Brooklyn bridge, 
at that time but partially finished, attracted the 
attention of our travelers. The boat going in the 
slip immediately adjoining the masonry on the 
Brooklyn side, the great pile frowned over them in 
the most fearful and threatening manner. It looked 
as if it was going to fall and crush boat, peofjle, and 
everything to atoms. Alvarez accosted a gentleman 
along side of him, as they were walking ujp Fulton 
street together. 

" A great work this, sir." 



AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 155 

"Yes, indeed," acquiesced the other 

"I suppose they are shoving it ahead in true 
American fashion ?' ' 

"Well, they've been stopped by the usual 
American impediment." 

"How's that?" 

"They are out of funds. The contractors have 
already spent, on the unfinished towers, as much as 
was originally estimated for the whole work, laying 
the bridge and all. Appropriations have been 
stopped while the parties who had the handling of 
the money are under indictment for fraud, and their 
accounts are being investigated in the courts." 

"Indeed!" 

" Oh ! yes ; our usual way. It is estimated now 
that it can't be completed for less than ten mil- 
lions." 

' ' A vast sum ! And will it ever be worth the 
cost?" 

"Very doubtful. Certainly never to New York, 
possibly to Brooklyn in the dim future. In the 
mean time all sorts of injunctions are being sworn 
out to assist in hindering the work. It is positively 
asserted that it will not be high enough, as the 
plans now are, to allow large vessels to pass under ; 



1 5 '3 Ay ATTACK OX THE DEVIL. 

bnt the engineers prefer to finish it all as it is, so if 
it should prove too low, and the injunctions hold, 
the work will have to be removed and done over again 
at enormous cost. Our usual style. Grood day." 

TTondering at this information, Alvarez with his 
son proceeded slowly up Fulton street, following 
the human stream ahead of him. Obeying the di- 
rections they had noted down, they soon found 
themselves in the midst of a great concourse of x>eo- 
ple, out in the street in front of the church door. 
Seeing others going in briskly, they also advanced, 
but was stopped bj% the usher who was out on the 
sidewalk, near one of the gates, talking most ear- 
nestly to the crowd. 

•• Have you seats V asked he sharply of them. 

" We are looking for seats, sir." 

*' Can't come in : step back."' 

Alvarez, from his short sojourn in America, 
already having had his preconceived ideas much 
confused, had somehow gathered up the conviction 
that money was the ruling power, and to get any- 
where or do anything was only a question of price. 
He therefore promptly pulled out his pocket-book, 
and wanted to know how much two good seats 
would be. 



AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 157 

' ' Confound your eyes ! ' ' involuntarily ex- 
claimed the irritated usher. ' ' Get back there and 
stand up alongside the fence, can't you ? " 

Alvarez could not seem to thoroughly under- 
stand the matter, and as he was still hesitating, a 
burly policeman, who was on guard, took him by 
the collar and slammed him up against the iron 
railing with considerable violence, at the same time 
exclaiming : 

" Ye can't make any muss here, ye ould villin !" 

Juan, who had hold of his father's arm, shared 
the shock, and both were silent from surprise and 
indignation. They noticed six policemen in all on 
duty, and judged a most unruly lot of religious 
vagabonds must be in the habit of coming there, to 
require such a force to keep them in order. They 
thought perhaps the magic of the jDreacher's elo- 
quence might be such that he drew a collection of 
abandoned desperadoes to him that no other min- 
ister could. In this idea they felt some comfort. 
Very much fearing arrest if they stepped out of 
line, as the jDoliceman still had his eye sharply on 
them, they stood still in fear and trembling. At 
length some sort of signal was given, and they felt 
themselves suddenly borne forward by the surging 



158 AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 

crowd behind. Crushed and breathless, unable to 
withstand the rush, they were almost lifted from 
their feet, as they found themselves crammed 
through two doorways, and finally inside the 
church. There they at length obtained rest by 
being given seats in the aisle, in which they thank- 
fully placed themselves and looked around. 

A large, jjlain edifice, having great blank staring 
walls, but capable, from the number of seats in gal- 
lery and ground floor, of holding a very large 
number of people, was at that time filled to over- 
flowing, from top to bottom. A massive organ stood 
in the back of the church, beneath which a plain 
platform, with steps leading up each side, a table, a 
large stand of flowers, and an easy chair, completed 
the machinery of the pulpit. 

The Rev. Edward Hale Belcher soon entered, 
ui3on which there was a perceptible motion of ex- 
citement and anticipation in the vast audience. A 
piece of music by the expert part of the choir, a 
lowly-murmured prayer by the minister, a hymn 
sung by the whole congregation, a chapter from the 
Bible, a long prayer, the reading of notices, and 
another hymn, and the preacher was at length 
ready for his discourse. 



A AT ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 159 

His text was upon Charity in its broad sense — the 
dnty of man to be considerate toward his fellow- 
men. He proceeded to the unfolding of his 
theories in the most masterly manner, and riddled 
the want of liberality and the narrow-minded- 
ness found in so many people. He attacked the 
foundations of many honest persons' religion by 
ridiculing the strictness and prejudice with which 
they clung to the old-time convictions of their fore- 
fathers. "Many men," said he, "think religion 
consists in looking solemn, and doing nothing bad. 
But their great apprehension of not doing anything 
which could bear the ajDpearance of evil, frequently 
leads them to do nothing at all. What kind of a 
liusbandman would that be who should give his 
entire attention solely to keeping down the weeds % 
A friend might visit him at harvest time and be 
shown all over the farm," — here he walked around 
the platform in the manner of a self-satisfied farmer 
showing around another — "admiring the clean 
roadways, the well-i^loughed and furrowed fields, 
and then inquire, 'But, sir, where' s your corn?' 
'Oh! I haven't any corn.' 'No corn! well, 
Where's your oats, and hay f 'Didn't raise any 
oats or hay.' 'Well! where' s your vegetables 



i6o AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 

and fruit, then V ' My dear sir, I haven' t paid at- 
tention to any thing of these things.' ' Well then ! 
what under the sun have you raised ?' ' Raised ! 
why, no weeds. ^ " When this anecdote was finished 
there was at li]-st a murmur, and afterwards a roar 
of laughter through the audience. One man in the 
gallery even knocked on the floor with his cane, in 
his enthusiasm. In a few moments after, the 
preacher had glided from the humorous into the 
pathetic, and telling some very touching incident, 
the whole audience was instantly in tears. 

But the preacher proceeded, aiming blow after 
blow against many an old-fashioned idea and cus- 
tom. At length he seemed to strike a defiant tone, 
and making some personal allusion to himself, 
which Alvarez did not fully understand, he rose to 
a pitch of most enthusiastic eloquence and brought 
down the house in a round of cheers. Thus the 
alternate laughing, crying, and cheering proceeded 
throughout the discourse. 

The i)lace of eternal torment seemed a location 
against which the preacher had an especial antij)- 
athy, and several times during the sermon he 
shot out sentences placing Hades and the ideas of 
many persons coJicerning^it in a most ludicrous light. 



AJV ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. i6i 

To Alvarez it was certainly somewliat exciting 
and altogether more interesting than anything he 
had witnessed in the other city the Sunday before. 
But the whole performance was exceedingly be- 
wildering to him. Although much more lively and 
more entertaining than many xolaces of amusement, 
where he had spent considerable money, and which 
made much greater pretenses, he had thought all 
the time that he was in a place of worship, and 
in any event had been admitted free of expense. 

The leading religious idea he gathered from the 
discourse was, that everybody should be exceed- 
ingly tolerant of everything, and liberality of 
thouglit should be the order of the day. If a man 
had convictions let him have them, if they pleased 
him, although another might believe them mixed 
with error. Man was a free agent in a certain 
sense, but a creature of predestination in another, 
and everything would come out all right in the 
end. It struck Alvarez that such an exceeding 
amount of liberality, carried to its logical extent, 
might degenerate into license, and a man living a 
free-and-easy sort of life, and believing others 
should do the same, would have poor armor to 
resist temx)tation in the hour of tiial. 



i62 AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 

Alvarez was not a bigoted man, but lie had old- 
fashioned ideas on many subjects. An eternal 
place of iDunisliment he had believed implicitly in 
from his childhood, and to hear it now treated in 
this style was not altogether pleasant. Besides 
this, from his reading of American history, he had 
somehow imbibed the idea, that the stern old Pil- 
grims, in their rigid ideas of right and wrong, and 
in a certain uncompromising attitude toward sin in 
any shape, as unlovely and unmerciful as they were 
in many resj^ects, had still tended largely, if not 
mainly, to give backbone and character to the 
young country and instil into its people that early 
virtuous indignation against tyranny and wrong, 
whicli had given them so glorious a record among 
mankind. The whole drift of the sermon, or lec- 
ture, he had heard, tended to a complete breaking 
up of all this and an effort to place such ideas in a 
ridiculous aspect. 

The discourse was finally brought to a close, and 
a collection ordered to be taken up. Juan suddenly 
recognized Mr. Milman passing one of the plates, 
and designated him to his father. As Mr. Milman 
was coming down the aisle in which our travelers were 
located, he had soon reached and recognized them. 



AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 163 

•' Will see you after church," he whispered, as 
he passed on. 

The service entirely over, the great body of 
people began to troop slowly out. When they 
reached the street, Milman soon caught up with 
Alvarez and his son, and mutual salutations passed. 

" You should have told me you were coming, 
and I would have brought you in our pew," said 
Milman. 

"Oh! thank you," replied Alvarez, "we did 
very well," at the same time thinking of his rather 
rough reception against the iron railing. 

" Well, now you are here, you must come right 
home to dinner with me. You have already 
delayed too long your promised visit." 

"We had not thought of it when we started, but 
shall gladly accept your kind invitation." 

" My wife and daughter are eager to see you." 

They conversed pleasantly awhile as they 
walked along, our travelers keenly on the watch 
for anything new or strange. 

Alvarez had overheard a dialogue between two 
gentlemen, who were conversing in an undertone, as 
they were squeezing out of church, and it had 
mystified him somewhat. 



i64 AN ATTACK ON THE DEVIL. 

"Belcher rather let himself out to-day," said 
number one. 

" Well, yes, rather," replied his friend. "Noth- 
ing of the ragged edge visible, though." 

"No, but a pretty straight invitation to the old 
boy to ' step down and out.' " 

"Yes. It may be all well enough for Mm to 
have a belief about that functionary being played 
out, but I don't see why he can't let the rest of the 
people enjoy him as much as they please." 

"So he ought. But we (?an't afford to lose 
Belcher at any cost. He's too big a gun; he's 
made this church, and there's nobody to take his 
place." 

With this, the friends had reached the street 
and passed out of hearing. 

A pleasant walk of a few minutes brought our 
travelers to the house of their friendly host on the 
Heights, which overlooked the water and the great 
city beyond. 



CHAPTER XIT. 



CATARACTS OF FLAMING VENGEANCE. 

HEY found tliat Mrs. Milman and 
Miss BeUa had arrived at the man- 
sion before them, and cordial in- 
-- (k^r^ ^^ trodnctions took place all around. 
? ^i^% \ The wife of our banker was a well- 
dressed and good-looking middle- 
aged lady. Her daughter, likewise 
exceedingly attractive, though 
young in years, seemed to possess 
a calm self-command that was somewhat remarkable. 
It may be as well to say that the arrival of the 
strangers, at some time or other, had not been unex- 
pected, and the two ladies had been more or less im- 
patient at the rather long delay. Mr. Milman had 
told his wife that he expected Sehor Alvarez with 
his son ; that he was a rich and ailtivated Brazilian 

|_105J 




i66 CATARACTS OF 

gentleman, traveling for amusement and instruction, 
and he wished him to be received in proper style. 
Mrs. Milman took mental note of all this, but went 
much further in her plans than her husband sup- 
posed. If the man was rich, cultivated, nothing to 
do but travel, and with a marriageable son on his 
hands, he certainly was worth attention. Bella was 
rapidly growing older, and though accomplished and 
I)retty, nothing satisfactory in the matrimonial line 
had as yet offered. A campaign each at Saratoga 
and Long Branch, with two winters in society at 
home, had only brought three offers of indifferent 
poor-devil clerks, more or less presumptuous on 
their part, and, of course, such as could not be 
accepted. 

A good understanding existed between the 
mother and daughter, of which the following con- 
versation may serve as an example. 

" You must see to it, Bella, that you entertain 
the young man properly. He is very rich." 

"Well! But I believe all these Brazilians are 
negroes." 

" Suppose they are. Let him be as black as the 
ace of spades, as long as he owns a diamond mine, 
as Papa says he believes he does." 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 167 

" La ! Diamonds by the bushel are worth consid- 
ering." 

"And you recollect the great Cuban marriage, a 
year or so ago, what a sensation it made. My dear, 
if you play your cards well, we will beat that, and 
have both cities in an uproar Avith the great Brazil- 
ian marriage. I don' t care how black or how ugly 
he may be." 

"Well, if it comes to that, nor I," said the 
pretty Bella, shrugging her shoulders. "I have no 
doubt I could manage him easy enough, and I'd be 
sure to get money enough out of him. Pa^Da has 
been awfully stingy of late, and I've felt myself 
looking as shabby as a beggar." 

"Well, your papa says you are costing him a 
great deal of money." 

Bella put out her cherry lips in a little pout, and 
tapped her tiny foot impatiently on the carpet. Thus 
the consultation ended for that day, but was resumed 
again at intervals, while getting some feminine dec- 
orations in order, in time for the expected arrival. 

Alvarez and Juan was shown in the parlor by 
the gentleman of the house, while the ladies re- 
moved their things and got themselves in shape for 
dinner. 



1 68 CATARACTS OF 

"Your pastor is exceedingly liberal in Ms 
ideas," said Alvarez to Milman, as the three gentle- 
men were comfortably seated in the parlor. 

"Yes, it is the tendency of the age and the 
country we live in," rejDlied the host. "Mr. 
Belcher has always been a pioneer in thought, and 
has done much to break up many a time-honored 
prejudice. Liberality to all is his great watchword, 
and is gradually extending among all classes of our 
people. Take our business men, for instance — how 
easy they now give credit, and how lenient toward 
a man in his misfortunes. Every merchant is sup- 
posed to fail once, and many twice or thrice, before 
they get on any satisfactory foundation to them- 
selves or the community. It used to be considered 
in xDrimJtive times, and is even now in some other 
countries, a disgrace for a man to undertake 
engagements he could not meet ; and when a mer- 
chant failed with a reasonable indication of reck- 
lessness, bad management, or dishonesty, he could 
never get credit again, even by giving up every- 
thing he had to his creditors. It is now con- 
sidered foolhardy for a man to give up all or 
anywhere near all, and the one who has the greatest 
capacity to fix things, and come out ahead after 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 169 

making a settlement, is x>oii^tecl out as a smart 
man." 

" You are an ingenious people," said Alvarez. 
"The reasoning is sound," resumed Milman. 
"It is held that if one does not look out for himself 
no one will look out for him, and unless he makes 
some provision for a fair capital to start with again, 
he will be all at sea. A wife is a great help in time 
of failure, as it is usually found that all the prop- 
erty is in her name, and if there is any delay or 
difficulty in getting a settlement, the merchant can 
go right on and do business as agent for his wife." 

" True, so he can," mused Alvarez. 

"Our bankrupt law is also a great help to mer- 
chants who can' t i^ay their debts. It has received 
some modification at the present time which renders 
it a little more embarrassing ; but formerly all a 
person had to do was to step up and svv^ear he had 
turned over all he i^ossessed, with some few excep- 
tions which the law allowed him, and he received a 
full and free discharge from all his debts and could 
go on unincumbered in business. ISTow a bankrupt 
cannot voluntarily take the benefit of the act and 
receive a discharge without his estate pays thirty 
per cent., but as it only takes one-third the number 



lyo CATARACTS OF 

of creditors, and one-qnarter the amonnt of indebt- 
edness, to put liim into involuntary bankruptcy, 
wlien he may receive his discharge no matter what 
he pays, it always turns out that a smart man has 
relations enough to whom he owes borrowed money, 
real or imaginary, and friends enough to whom he 
may be indebted petty amounts, to fix this all 
right for him. In any case, the real creditors sel- 
dom get anything, as expenses, delays and licti- 
tious claims usually eat up all. But they are used 
to it, and don't care." 

"Ah! I see,'' said Alvarez ; "the law favors the 
unfortunate debtor class, and shields him from the 
grasp of the unscrupulous creditor." 

"Precisely. The thing has become so common 
that some stationers iind it profitable to have blanks 
printed which can be hlled ux^ at pleasure. New 
York merchants frequently receive notices like the 
following : 

"'Dear Sir: Upon investigating our aifairs we 
Iind the best we can offer our creditors will be forty 
X^er cent., in four equal X)aymeiits at six, twelve, 
eighteen and twentj'-four months. Failing to g^t a 
receipt in full on this basis, we shall be compelled 
to go into bankruptc}^, when, as you know, tlie 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 171 

estate will probably take much longer to settle, and 
net yon considerablj'- less. You are given till the 
10 til inst. to respond. 

' Respectfully, 

'Brown & Robinson.' 
" The merchant so written rarely holds out." 

"Indeed!" 

"The credit system with us is now perfect and 
universal. Nobody pays cash for anything. The 
consumer buys what he Avants from the retail dealer 
without money, the retail dealer the same from the 
wholesale dealer, the latter from the jobber, and the 
jobber from the importer or the manufacturer, who 
in turn owes the banker — which banker passes out 
the governmental paper promises to i^ay. It is 
interesting to contemplate, this continuous chain of 
credit, which is altogether an outgrowth of our 
modern civilization. We are living entirely upon 
credit, and no nation in the world owes more than 
we. From the central government to States, muni- 
cipalities, corporations and individuals, we are 
carrying a debt equal to Atlas carrying the world." 

The conversation was here interrupted by dinner 
being announced. After a long and solemn grace 
by Milman, the meal began. Juan was placed by 



172 CATARACTS OF 

Bella, as a matter of course. The young lady had 
entered decorated in the most attractive manner. 
Diamonds were sx)arkling from her ears, and shining 
luminous from her delicate hands. 

"I suppose such stones are very plentiful with 
you," said she to Juan, with a smiJe. 

"They are found in considerable quantities in 
our country," replied the young man ; "but only by 
great labor and loss of life." 

The young lady exerted herself to be entertain- 
ing, and no one could be more so when she was in 
the humor. Her. bright little speeches, her soft 
voice, her gay laughter and arch smile quite capti- 
vated the young man, who began to exjDerience a 
strange fluttering at his heart, which he had never 
known before. After dinner, the party again with- 
drew to the parlor, Juan and Bella taking the front 
room., while Alvarez and his host settled themselves 
comfortably for a smoke and a talk in the back. 
Mrs. Milman was absent, attending to the children. 
The conversation of the young peoj^le, it will be 
needless to follow ; but the discourse of Milman to 
his guest it may be interesting to know. 

"Take the Bible, now," said he, resuming in a 
measure the same themes he was pursuing before 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 173 

dinner. "Peoples' ideas are altogether changing in 
regard to it. Many in our country sui^posed in for- 
mer times that every word and line was insx)ired 
from Heaven, and regarded the Book itself, wher- 
ever found, with a superstitious awe and reverence, 
as if there was some peculiar efficacy in the binding 
and printing. Our minister shows us that number- 
less passages do not mean what they say. Things 
which old-time people regarded as literal are now 
found to be only metaphorical, and thus a number 
of unpleasant and difficult texts are easily gotten 
around. The tendency of our country is not to 
stand in stupid reverence at anything, but to investi- 
gate and dissect. In our time a schoolboy will 
frequently know more about the Bible than his 
grandfather." 

" Your youth are extremely forward, I have no- 
ticed," said Alvarez, musingly. 

"The observance of the Sabbath comes in the 
same category," continued Milman, "People no 
longer think it necessary to keep quiet on that day, 
look solemn, and read good books. Our preacher 
tells us Christians should be quite as cheerful on 
the Sabbath as at any other time. Many, therefore, 
look upon the first day of the week as a holiday to 



174 CATARACTS OF 

be made the most of, and laugh at those who stick 
to the old manner of observing it." 

" There always has been a conflict of opinion as 
to the proper observance of the Sabbath," said the 
Brazilian. 

" Yes ; but in our country there used to be strong 
prejudices on the subject, which are now being 
rapidly done away with. As I have been trying to 
impress upon you, the tendency is toward a larger 
liberty. Now, then, as to the matrimonial tie," 
continued Milman, sinking his voice, "it is the 
growing belief, held by many that have not courage 
to say so, that there is altogether too much tyranny 
exercised in that. Contemplate the hideous cruelty 
of keex^ing a man and woman tied together after 
they have ceased to love, or, in fact, after their love 
has turned to hate, and the soul of each yearns to- 
wards another. Certainly there is crime somewhere 
in this. The people, however, who formerly rejected 
certain advanced ideas with horror, are now willing 
to investigate. In the late dastardly attack upon 
our pastor, when the first stone was thrown by a 
pair of adventurous women in a sheet of theirs, con- 
taining a comparatively short account of the matter, 
a cry of indignation and disgust went up all over 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 175 

the land, and the unfortunate wretches were thrown 
in the city prison, and prosecuted by the district 
attorney, for circulating obscene matter through the 
mails. But when our great trial was going on, of 
Avhicli I may tell you some day, almost every prom- 
inent daily in the country published the full 
details, no matter how shocking, and they were 
everywhere read with avidity." 

Thus Milman continued to discourse upon the 
tendencies of the day, and the ardent thirst for 
more freedom in all directions. Skillfully conceal- 
ing his own real sentiments on tlie ideas he ad- 
vanced, he presented the questions, one after 
another, as a person who had contemplated the 
propositions, but took little real interest in them. 
Before the conversation had fully ended a close 
familiarity had grown up betv/een Alvarez and the 
American banker. The Brazilian was willing to 
acknowledge that some dangerous tendencies as 
well as some strange beliefs were prevalent among 
the people, but he regarded Milman, in some way 
or other, as walking amid dangers with a charmed 
life, and living on a plane outside of and above that 
which might affect other men, 

Alvarez had mentioned that he had dei^osited in 



176 CATARACTS OF 

London an extra thousand pounds, to be available 
in case of emergency, upon wliich he was receiving 
but a very small interest. Milman had told him 
that in this he made a big mistake, because, if he 
had the money here, there were constant opportuni- 
ties offering to invest at good advantage, and the 
amount might be doubled before he wanted to use 
it. Alvarez, after some consideration, concluded it 
would be wise for him to do this, and accordingly, 
the next day, signed a draft- to the order of Milman 
for the amount, leaving it on deposit with him, 
with the other unexpended funds he already had. 

The evening of the Sunday in question, it had 
been arranged, should be spent at the great taber- 
nacle of the Reverend Howard Bouncer. Juan was 
to escort Bella, and Milman was to accompany Al- 
varez. They were a little late in starting, so that 
the great building, arranged in amphitheatrical style, 
was filled to overflowing Avhen they arrived. As they 
looked in at the front entrance, the vast audience 
Avere on their feet, singing as if to split their throats, 
while the great organ was pealing forth its tremen- 
dous notes of praise, and a tall man, with mustache 
and goatee, standing on a platform with a bugle to 
his mouth, was leading the combined melody. Al- 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 177 

varez liacl never witnessed anything so tremendous, 
and tlionglit, not to be irreverent, tliat if the 
Almighty had been hard of hearing even, the an- 
them could scarcely have failed to reach Him. 

Amid this clamor, they wended their way to a 
side aisle, and there being only one seat found for 
the lady, one of the ushers very obligingly gave the 
gentlemen seats on the steps of the pulpit. Alvarez 
mounting first, his head came about even with the 
level of the platform. The great audience at length 
sat down, and then our travelers could see the ex- 
tent and admirable arrangement of the building. 
Three great chandeliers, lighted by electricity, hung 
from the ceiling, besides several others on the sides 
more easy of access. 

Alvarez was anxious to see the jDreacher as his 
curiosity had been greatly excited. He had over- 
heard one young man ask another out on the side- 
walk, "if he was going in to see the gorilla," 
though just what was alluded to the Brazilian 
hardly knew. He was, therefore, about prepared 
for anything. A tall, lean man rose up from the 
platform, and advancing to the edge with a Bible in 
his hand, opened his mouth to read — an enormous 

mouth, stretching almost from ear to ear. He was a 
8* 



178 CATARACTS OF 

man full of sharp angles, and his every attitude fur- 
nished a sort of geometrical diagram. His voice 
grated harshly upon the line sensibilities of the 
Brazilian — almost like the filing of a saw, and his 
reading of the chaj^ter was so intermixed with re- 
marks of his own, that it was difficult for one not 
decidedly on the alert to tell which was St. Mat- 
thew's, and which the Reverend Bouncer's. He 
read without explanatory break or emphasis : "Ye 
are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its 
savor wherewith shall it be salted 1 ]S"o good, only 
fit to chuck out and make sidewalks of," and so 
on. His giving out and reading of the hymn was 
equally peculiar, not to say startling. When the 
announcement of the hymn was finished the bugler 
took his stand, the audience arose, and again the 
thunder pealed forth. One thing Alvarez early 
made up his mind to — that the most inveterate 
church sleeper would scarcely have been able to get 
a comfortable nap there. 

The service ended, the sermon began. The sub- 
ject was the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and was 
most graphically wrought out. The preacher did 
not mince matters ; the rich man dwelling in his 
palace, " clothed in jDurple and fine linen, and far- 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 179 

ing sumptuously every day," was most painfully 
contrasted with the sasie gentleman in altogether 
different quarters. Hell was pictured up so terribly 
that one felt the flames and sm^elled the brimstone. 
There was no doubt in his mind on the subject. 
"This is no typical flame!" shouted the preacher. 
"These are no metaphorical embers! but from the 
bottom of my heart I believe it to be literal hell 
FIRE." The last words were yelled out so energeti- 
cally that Alvarez nearly jumped from his seat, 
while a woman in the body of the church fainted 
and was carried out. 

The famous dialogue between the rich man and 
Father Abraham across the great gulf was most 
exciting, as the speaker gave each part in character. 
The flnal howl of despair of the sinner, when he 
found that none of his requests could be granted, 
was so demoniac, and was accompanied by such 
frantic gestures on the part of the loreacher, that 
Alvarez judged he had actually gone mad and 
might resort to violence upon those around him. 
However, as our traveler was wedged in firmly, he 
could not have budged, if he had been about to be 
torn to pieces. Several times already, as the 
speaker, in his eccentric and energetic evolutions, 



i8o CATARACTS OF 

had advanced with his great feet to within a few 
inches of the Brazilian's head, the latter had 
shrunk back in alarm. 

At the close, the joreacher called upon all those 
who were on the side of Christ to stand up. The 
wdiole congregation arose, but as Alvarez could not 
get up without great difficulty, and as he had not 
thoroughly understood the request, he kept his seat. 
The Avliole mass of jj^^ple, therefore, being up, 
stared at him, facing them, as they supposed, de- 
fiantly, and keeping his seat under such circum- 
stances. They took him for some dangerous infidel 
who had obtruded himself among them. 

However, all things have an end, and the party 
at length found themselves in the street. Desjiite 
the violence and grotesqueness of the preacher, 
Alvarez could not help acknowledging that his 
subject was most graphically set forth, and full of 
sound practical lessons, calculated to imj)ress the 
masses of the people and do them good. Our 
Brazilian judged that the strange idiosyncrasies of 
Bouncer, on the whole, had a more healthy tone 
than the fascinating insidiousness of Belcher. He 
acknowledged to himself as the result of his attend- 
ance at two places of worship that day, that the 



FLAMING VENGEANCE. 



City of Cliiirclies was about as lively a place to 
spend a Sabbath in as one could well imagine. 
Juan was altogether taken up with his fair partner, 
whose light touch ux)on his arm thrilled him 
through and through. 

Our two travelers parted from their friends at the 
door of the latter' s residence, and proceeded on over 
across the ferry tov/ard the hotel. Bella just looked 
in at her mother s room as she passed the door. 

"Ah, mother!" said she with a little yawn, 
"I don't find him so had.'''' 

Before our travelers reached their hotel, the car 
in which they were riding was suddenly stopped at 
the corner of a certain street, by a great concourse 
of people issuing from a large building hard by. 
They seemed exceedingly respectable, and ap- 
parently quite enthusiastic at what they had heard. 
Being somevv^hat interested, Alvarez asked the con- 
ductor the cause of the gathering, and was told 
that a great man from the West had been enlighten- 
ing the people. He had been making great efforts 
to knock spots generally out of the Bible, and 
considered himself as having succeeded pretty well. 
Some folks said he was one of the smartest men 
that ever lived. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 




FEW morning's after, Alvarez, 
feeling somewhat indisposed, liad 
not arisen at the usual time, but 
decided to take a light breakfast 
in bed. Juan had gone down in 
the breakfast-room alone. He 
had been absent only a very few 
minutes, and our elderly traveler 
had just sunk in a doze, when he 
was aroused by a tai^ at his door. 

" Come in," cried he, rousing up. 

A waiter put in his head. 

" Gentleman, sir, wishes to see you, sir." 

" Did he state his business ?" 

" Did not, sir ; only seemed to be urgent, sir." 

" Well, I'm unwell, and can't see him." 

[183] 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 183 

The waiter withdrew, and Alvarez again courted 
slumber. He had slept but little the night before, 
and was sorely in need of rest. Two minutes after 
came another tap at his door. 

' ' W ell % What' s the matter no w ?' ' 

The waiter again put his head in the door. 

"Gentleman, sir, says he m%5^ see you, sir. It 
is very important." 

"I'm sick. I'm worn out, and I want some rest. 
Tell him to come again this afternoon, or " 

"My dear sir," said a sharp, strange voice just 
outside, "i^ardonme." 

At the same time a most restless and eager-look- 
ing young man stepped into the i^oom and jDulled off 
his hat. His eyes looked as if they might have 
pierced a two-inch board, as well as possessing the 
properties of a crab, from the fact of his being able 
to shove them out and draw them in at will. The 
corners of his mouth betrayed the habitual use of 
tobacco, while his tangled locks gave evidence of 
the rather infrequent use of a comb. Alvarez, 
raising himself on his elbow, waited for his visitor 
to speak. 

"I respect your privacy, sir, but the public must 
be gratified. If you i)ermit me I will take a seat." 



1 84 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

Alvarez nodded, though still somewhat in doubt 
as to what it all meant. He had been in the coun- 
try just long enough, however, to be prepared for 
. almost anything, and therefore waited calmly. The 
visitor took out a note-book and sharpened his 
pencil. 

"Now sir, are you ready ?" 

"Ready!" asked Alvarez, more and more be- 
wildered. He was in doubt as to whether his vis- 
itor was an artist about to take his picture unsoli- 
cited, or what he was. 

"I see by the register," said the interviewer, 
" that you have entered yourself as simply Pedro 
Alvarez — if you wish it I will respect your incog- 
nito, but there are others wdio would not, and I 
don't want to be beat. By what route did you 
come from Brazil, Sehor ?" 

Our Brazilian, thinking this might be some 
public functionary, drawing a big salary, whose 
duty it was to get statistics of strangers upon their 
arrival, answered : 

" We took boat from Santos to Rio Janeiro, and 
steamer from thence to London. We afterward em- 
barked from Liverpool to New York." 

The reporter scratched a few lines rapidly. 




TVcOisZ^ 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 185 

' ' And what do you think of our country, 
Senor T 

" Keally, sir, I have not yet had an opi)ortunity 
to investigate very thoroughly " 

"But, sir, as far as you've gone ?" 

"I confess myself, in many things, to have been 
very much astonished." 

"Ah! good!" exclaimed the reporter, v^^riting 
rapidly. "A person from your country would have 
much to learn, eh?" 

"Undoubtedly." 

The interview proceeded remorselessly, Alvarez 
being probed with more questions than a witness on 
the stand. He was tempted and excited to talk on 
anything and everything, and was put through a 
general course of sprouts in the most thorough 
manner. Several times he placed his hand to his 
aching head, and wished the trial was ended ; but 
his usual politeness and amiability got the better of 
his impatience and suffering, and led him to answer, 
after some fashion, all questions. Whenever he 
stopped or hesitated, the inquisitor darted his crab- 
like eyes at the sufferer, and urged him on. Juan 
came at length, followed \>y a waiter with some 
breakfast, and succeeded in breaking up the inter- 



1 86 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

view, upon which Alvarez sank back upon his 
pillow exhausted. 

After almost the entire day silent in bed, the in- 
valid felt himself much better, and resolved on a 
short walk in the street with his son. As they 
passed a corner, a boy with newspapers was halloo- 
ing most vociferously : 

"Here you are, live o'clock !" 

As it was but a little after four, our travelers 
were rather puzzled to know what he meant. Again 
he yelled out : 

''■Fide o'clocJc — got the Emperor in disguise." 

"Look here, my boy !" said Alvarez, paternally. 
" What do you mean ? It isn't five o'clock yet." 

"Aw! don't give it away, man! Don't you 
know what th' five o'clock 'dition is?" asked the 
lad, rather contemjotuously. 

"Ah! he alludes to the paper — I see! Well, 
we'll take one." 

The purchase was soon made, and the juvenile 
continued his noisy course down the street. As 
Alvarez could not read readily without his glasses, 
he handed over the paper to Juan. The latter was 
immediately attracted to the first page, upon which 
was displayed, in great head-lines, the following : 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 187 



A Great Nobleman in Disguise. 



A Brazilian Lord Among Us. 



Supposed to be the Emperor. 



An Account of His Journey. 



His Views and Opinions. 
Our Eeporter's Interview. 

Not kno^^ing who could be intended by this, and 
being much surprised that the Emperor should have 
conceived the idea of visiting the country so sud- 
denly, Juan continued to read aloud with great 
interest as they walked slowly along. What was 
the astonishment of both, to find the nobleman to 
be no other than Pedro Alvarez, who was before 
this entirely ignorant that he was a lord. His 
full name, hotel, and all sorts of particulars 
were given. He could not heljD being amused 
as well as annoyed at the elaborate and thor- 
ough article he found there in the "Lightning 
Flash." The interview of the morning then came 
back to his mind, and he was more astonished than 
ever at the industry and expertness of the eager 



1 88 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

young man, to be able, from such slender materials, 
to write out such an interesting narrative in so short 
a space of time. He found himself described per- 
sonally, and was happy to learn that he was a well- 
proiDortioned, intelligent-looking man, with a 
benevolent cast of features. The minutest particu- 
lars of his dress were also set forth, which was the 
more surprising, seeing that he had been in bed 
during the whole interview, with his clothes partly 
on a peg, and partly on a chair-back. His voyage 
was detailed in a graphic manner, with some inci- 
dental descriptions of Brazil, which latter Alvarez 
concluded, since Brazil v^as so large a country, must 
apxoly to some i^art of which he had no knowledge. 
The opinions of the supposed nobleman on x)olitics, 
religion, finance, and a multitude of other topics, 
were all detailed, and puzzled Alvarez not a little, 
since he was not aware of ever having entertained 
any such views. The object of his mission to this 
country was involved in mystery, as well as his pos- 
itive identity. Several ingenious theories were 
advanced on this head by the report, but the one 
that was most favored was, that Pedro Alvarez could 
be no other than the Emperor Dom Pedro himself, 
in disG:uise. A half- column editorial collated the 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 189 

article in question, and commented ni3on it in a 
most interesting manner. The editor seemed to 
thinlv that Dom Pedro might be able to prove an 
alibi, since he was reported by cable to be still in 
Rio Janeiro; but, as he was known to be a most 
rapid traveler, he might have slipped over here 
right after the message, and be in our country at 
the present moment. In any case if it was the 
Emperor, and he wished to travel incognito, why 
let him do so— the "Lightning Flash" would be 
the last to expose him. 

Our two travelers wended their way back to the 
hotel thoughtfully, not knowing whether to take 
the matter as a joke or view it as a mistake. 
Alvarez's impulse was to find out the office of the 
paper and inform the editor of the error, but he 
afterward concluded to let it go. As they entered 
the office of the hotel, the clerk said quickly to 
some gentlemen that stood by : 

" Why ! there he is now." 

Alvarez at once found himself surrounded by 
eight different individuals, each of whom held out 
a card at him. Hemmed in thus by a bristling 
line of pasteboard, our traveler was very much 
puzzled just what to do. He read one or two of 



I90 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

the cards, as the owners assumed attitudes, and 
smiled and bowed before him. Mr. Jones of the 
"Crier," Mr. Brown of the "Bugle," Thompson 
of the "Globe," and Ferguson of the "Mentor," 
received a glance from him. It dawned upon 
Alvarez, that he was at length brought face to face 
with a regular army of interviewers, and his only 
safety lay in taking a determined stand. 

"Gentlemen, you must excuse me. I shall de- 
cline to answer any questions. I have been inter- 
viewed already to my heart's content. I would 
desire, however, to set you and others right on one 
point. The representative of the ' Lightning Flash ' 
this morning, made a serious error in taking me for 
a nobleman. I am no nobleman ; only a private 
person, traveling for pleasure and information. 
Gentlemen, good-day." Alvarez turned and was 
about to depart. Most of the members of the press 
seemed satisfied, but Just as our traveler had 
reached the head of the stairs on the first landing, 
he was overtaken by the veteran Ferguson, who 
whispered, with a sly wink : 

" I understand it ; you want to get rid of those 
fellows. Confounded bores ! I'll be back and see 
you later." 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 191 

But Alvarez little knew what was in store for 
for him. The next morning he literally awoke to 
find himself famous. Modest and retiring always, 
without the faintest conception of wishing to repre- 
sent himself anything different from what he really 
was, he found notoriety forced upon him. The 
mere suspicion of having a nobleman in disguise 
among them, with a possibility of his being the Em- 
l^eror himself, was sufiicient to rouse the enthusi- 
asm of a large body of the citizens in the Metrop- 
olis of the Republic. Alvarez had explained to 
Juan a short time previous to this, that in America 
the people were supreme, and no orders of nobility 
or castes in society existed ; that the honest man, 
the brave one who had served his country well, or 
the genius which had called into being some hith- 
erto unknown truth, were the true nobility, and as 
such were looked up to and reverenced ; while for- 
eign blood distinctions were universally ridiculed in 
the United States. 

Our two travelers observed in the breakfast-room 
that they were objects of unusual notice. Gentle- 
men quietly pointed them out to their friends as 
they x>assed along, and several ladies eyed Juan 
with a most admiring interest. The head waiter 



192 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

accompanied tliem the whole distance to their table, 
and pulled out their chairs with a grand swoop, and 
then shoved them under their bended forms with 
great consideration. Even the under waiter showed 
rather more teeth than usual. 

Every morning paper was found to have devoted 
a column at least to the matter, and Alvarez saw 
himself described and ventilated in every conceiv- 
able style. He might be said never to have known 
so many curious circumstances about his appear- 
ance and opinions as now. Nor did Juan escape 
dissection in an equally thorough manner. As they 
left the breakfast-room, Alvarez caught sight of his 
friend from the "Lightning Flash" talking with 
the waiter, and at once came to the conclusion that 
his, the supposed Emperor's, breakfast would be 
fully detailed in the afternoon. 

Upon calling for his mail at the ofRce, the 
smiling clerk informed him that it was rather heavy 
this morning, and that he had sent it up to his 
room. Upon hastening thither, Alvarez found a 
bushel basket running over with epistles addressed 
to him — all sorts of letters from all sorts of jDersons. 
He knew not where to begin, and hardly dare 
attempt any. Invitations from everywhere and to 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER, i 



93 



everything ; propositions from inventors wlio had 
something exactly suitable for Brazil ; offers from 
several gentlemen and five or six females to accom- 
pany him in his travels and show him the country 
thoroughly ; urgent requests from several photo- 
graphers, with multitudes of other proposals of the 
most varied and interesting types. The poor gen- 
tleman was overv/helmed and bewildered. Juan 
worked until he was tired out, oi^ening and reading 
snatches from the various letters, and hnally begged 
his father to desist, at least for that day. 

Upon looking out the front window they saw a 
great concourse of people gathered in front of the 
hotel, waiting patiently and apparently watching 
for somebody to come out. Alvarez at once con- 
cluded that it was for him they were lying in wait, 
and was in despair. He knew not what they would 
do with him when he went out, or how many would 
follow him around wherever he went, but in any 
case, he judged it wisest, if there was any way pos- 
sible to give them the slip, to do so. A short con- 
sultation with a bell-boy, and a small fee, elicited 
the information that he could get into the street by a 
back way unobserved, by going through part of the 
kitchen and out a long narrow alley. Our traveler 



194 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

joyfully embraced this opportunity of escape, and, 
accompanied by his son, threaded his way through 
to the oj)on air. 

Late in the afternoon, as they returned, cantious 
and apprehensive, they had no sooner reached their 
rooms than they were waited on successively by : 
First, some delegates from the Mayor, desiring to 
arrange a public reception ; Second, three members, 
as a committee, from a celebrated club, reqnesting 
him to appoint an evening convenient to participate 
in a grand public dinner ; Third, by several distin- 
guished citizens who were desirous of organizing a 
monster ball in his honor. All of these illustrions 
comjjliments he declined. He protested, with tears 
in his eyes, that he was not a nobleman, let alone 
the Emperor, that he was nothing else but what he 
pretended to be, merely a plain Brazilian gentleman 
traveling with his son. Finally his visitors were 
induced to leave him, after the most earnest en- 
treaty upon the part of their victim. They de- 
parted, however, with the air of persons silenced 
but not convinced. 

When some hours had elapsed, and our travelers 
had remained unmolested, they congratulated them- 
selves they would at least be able to spend the 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 195 

latter part of the evening alone. Their supper had 
been brought to their room. Between nine and ten, 
however, they heard a great tuning-np of instru- 
ments outside, and looking out saw a full band of 
music about to commence a serenade. The street 
was black with people for blocks, and enthusiasm 
seemed to reign supreme. The braying of trumpets, 
with the softer notes of the cornets, soon floated on 
the night air as a popular air was played. Juan 
and his father were in doubt as to whether this 
demonstration was meant for them, but as they 
drew aside tlie curtain still further, the strong blaze 
of a calcium light was thrown full upon their win- 
dows, and wild cheers went up from the crowd. 
Shrill cries for "the Emperor," "a speech, a 
speech," and the like, soon convinced the startled 
Alvarez that he was the man intended. He with- 
drew hastily, put out his gas, and shut his blinds 
tightly. He Avas not insensible to the honor in- 
tended for him, but he was so overwhelmed and 
astonished by it— it was so unexiDected, and, as he 
felt, undeserved, that he knew not what to do. 
He was not a man to take advantage of any mistake 
or to appropriate to himself anything intended for 
another. But the stupendous error had gotten 



196 THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 

abroad that he had gentle blood in his veins, and it 
seemed ntteiiy impossible for him to contradict it 
or stop its disastrous effects. 

It was past midnight when he and Juan, after a 
long and doleful consultation as to what they had 
best do to raise the state of siege from which they 
were then suffering, being unable to come to any 
conclusion, save flight or surrender, were about to 
go to bed, and were in fact partially undressed. 
They were not destined however to be left undis- 
turbed. The courteous proprietor of the "Crier" 
drove up hastily to the private entrance of the 
hotel in his coach, ran straight up to the Brazilian's 
apartments, was admitted, and refusing to take 
"no" for an answer, actually captured the two 
travelers, and conveyed them down town in the 
early hours of the morning to his immense estab- 
lishment to show them the final making up and 
working off of the great Metropolitan Newspaper. 
It was here that they saw some of those interior 
workings, which, by anticipating a little, were 
detailed in a former chapter. The proprietor told 
them decidedly that the object of his joaper was 
news, and a desire to please as many people as 
possible. Their editorial sheet was conducted on 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERVIEWER. 197 

the principle, to "be all things to all men," and if it 
didn't hit an individual's fancy one day, to do it 
the next. In this way they had been extremely 
fortunate in their prophecies, for scarcely had an 
event taken place for years, but what the editor 
could tiirn back and point out with pride and 
pleasure, just where it had been foreshadowed in 
his i)aper months before. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT, 




PON reaching the hotel once more, 
the mind of Alvarez was made 
up. He was convinced he never 
could stand many more days 
like this, and feeling that his 
involuntary title of Emperor 
would be the death of him if 
he bore it much longer, he re- 
solved on flight the very next 
evening. He was not yet prepared to leave the 
city, but he reckoned that if he changed his name 
and secretly moved to another hotel, he might 
escape detection, at least, for a while. All this he 
hapiDily accomplished at the appointed time and 
breathed freer once more. 

Juan had paid a visit to the office of Milman, 

[198] 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 199 

down town, in order to get a check cashed, and had 
there found a delicate little note from Bella, 
addressed to him. She was invited to a party at 
a friend's house, in Fifth avenue, New York, on the 
next evening, and she made bold to request him to 
act as her escort. His heart fluttered as his eyes 
ran over the pretty hand-wTiting, and his nostrils 
took in the delicate odor of the little epistle. He 
immediately sat down and wrote a lev/ lines accept- 
ing with i^leasure the kind invitation. This he in- 
trusted to the care of Mr. Milman, not without sun- 
dry blushings, and indirect hints as to the necessity 
of i^rompt delivery. 

This eventful evening arrived, and Juan, who had 
spent the whole day in getting ready, having pur- 
chased an entire new outfit of the very best make 
and material he could find, proceeded over to Mr. 
Milman\s house in Brooklyn, from whence Bella 
was to be ready to set out in a carriage of her own 
providing. 

Bella had plenty of escorts, who would have 
been ready and anxious to accompany her, but they 
would not have suited her pur^DOse. The news- 
paper accounts of the Emperor in disguise had been 
read by herself and mother, as well as by every- 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 



body else, and had made a more than ordinary- 
impression. If Alvarez was not the Emperor, he 
was anyhoAV a nobleman, and if he was even not a 
nobleman, he was at least a very rich man, while 
Juan, his son, was handsome and distinguished-look- 
ing. The young man would do to lead in triumph 
before her female friends, and cause them to bite 
their lix)s in envy. In the mean time, she wished to 
keep hold of the prize, until she learned positively 
its value, when she might either clinch the matter 
or repudiate it, as circumstances seemed to require. 
Bella was a good business young lady, and always 
had a sharp lookout for j)ossible contingencies. 

On the stroke of eight, our young man i^resented 
himself at the door of the Brooklyn residence, and 
was quickly ushered in the parlor and left alone. 
Standing before the great pier glass, he threw back 
his outer coat, and nervously look a glance at him- 
self. His dark hair, brushed back from his temples, 
showed his handsome face to advantage, lighted up 
as it was, by a pair of quick, frank eyes. As he 
stood there, in his faultlessly-fitting suit of black, 
in the pride of youth and health, he was a noble- 
looking fellow, of whom any mother would have 
been j)roud. In his case, that mother had been at 



CUIPD AIMS A SHAFT. 



rest three years or more, but had stamped her 
cheerfulness and good sense strongly upon her son. 
A rich gold chain, a present from her, hung around 
his neck, while an opal, set in diamonds, another 
maternal memento, blazed from a finger of his left 
hand. 

A step on the stair caused him to move aside, 
just as Bella, like a vision of glory, burst upon his 
eager eyes, and glided in at the open door. 

"Ah ! you are here, Senor ; punctual, I see," 
cried the gay young lady. 

"Always punctual where the ladies are con- 
cerned," replied Juan, gallantly. 

As they clasped hands, the young man seemed 
at pnce under some mesmeric spell, and as com- 
pletely in the fair Bella's power as if handcuffed 
and led by a chain. The young lady had the most 
consummate skill in "getting herself up," to use a 
sort of technical expression, and none knew better 
than she the weak points in her appearance, or 
the strong ones, nor how to bring out the one and 
repress the other. 

Her mother hovered around her anxiously, after 
a cordial greeting to the young man, and stating to 
him that Mr. Milman was away on business for the 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 



night, A little adjustment here, and a little touch 
there, put tlie finishing stroke to the elaborate toilet 
of the youthful beauty. 

" These girls are very troublesome, Mr. Alvarez ; 
I hope you will excuse my solicitude," said the 
anxious mother. 

" Most certainly," replied the young man. " A 
delicate and beautiful plant requires care." 

Bella rewarded him with a pretty, grateful 
glance. The carriage was soon heard at the door, 
and Bella carefully enveloped in her wraps. 

"Take good care of my daughter now," said 
Mrs. Milman, as they passed out the front door. 

"I shall defend her with my life," answered 
Juan firmly. 

The carriage was soon clattering off down the 
street toward the ferry. 

"The night is chill," said Bella giving a little 
shudder. 

" Allow me to throw this shawl over your shoul- 
ders," said the young man, with tender solicitude in 
his voice. 

The liberty was allowed, and the two sank back 
in their respective corners and were silent for 
awhile. It was doubtless not without a purpose, 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 203 

that tlie clever young lady had conceived the idea 
of getting the young man to accompany her in a 
close coach, for this long ride from Brooklyn to the 
upper i)art of the other city ; but the i^lans of young 
ladies are often involved in as much mystery, as 
those of some able general during a campaign. 

" I see your father's name and your own figuring 
extensively in the papers," said the young lady, 
quietly. 

"Most unfortunately," answered Juan, 

"You love mystery, it seems. Are you still 
determined to preserve your incognito?" 

The young man here entered upon a most earnest 
series of protestations that his father had no incog- 
nito to preserve, and they both were no other than 
they professed to be. The young lady pretended to 
be incredulous, and bantered him considerably for 
endeavoring to deceive her as well as the i)ublic. 

In a most tantalizingly short space of time, as it 
appeared to Juan, the carriage had arrived at their 
destination, mounted Murray Hill, and drew up 
before the door of a great house in the upper part 
of Fifth avenue. The noble mansion was a blaze 
of light, and as they ascended the broad stone steps 
the young Brazilian could not help being impressed 



204 CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 

with the evidence of solidity and wealth. A colored 
waiter opened the door, and they moved up the 
main stairway, amid the fragrance of flowers, to the 
strain of soft music. At the head of the stairs they 
separated, each going to the proper dressing-room. 

In the gentleman's dressing-room, Juan was 
sti'uck by a young man, who sitting in one rich 
chair, with his feet up in another, and a cigar in his 
mouth, was talking in a loud, consequential tone to 
another gentleman across the room. This other, a 
tall and very red-faced individual, although but a 
young man, was so large and puffed up that he 
seemed about to burst. His eyes stuck out, and his 
short, thick neck gave unmistakable evidence of the 
animal predominating over the spiritual element. 

Juan was soon ready, and quickly stationed 
himself at the door of the ladies' dressing-room. 
But it was not a part of the plans of the fair Bella 
to be in anything of a hurry, or to enter the parlor 
while there was comparatively but a few there. At 
length, however, the young man's suspense was 
ended by the appearance of his lady, and they 
descended the stairs together. At the foot, the 
young lady took his arm, and entered the parlor as 
a queen might do accompanied by a favored noble. 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 205 

Slie sought out the hostess, found her, and after 
the first greetings, introduced her escort. 

"Mrs. Delmar, Seiior Alvarez." As this was 
pronounced slowly and with considerable emphasis, 
all eyes were at once upon the couple. The hostess 
threw an inquiring glance to Bella, as if to ask, 
"is this the Alvarez," and was answered with a 
slight nod. 

After a short conversation Mrs. Delmar was 
called away, and as the band was playing the pre- 
lude to the Lanciers, Bella promptly took her 
place at the head of the room with her partner. 
The thick-necked gentleman passed by. 

"Hello, Belle !" cried he in admiration. "Why, 
you're stunnin' to-night." She answered with a 
slight shrug of her pretty shoulders. 

"Who is that gentleman ?" inquired Juan. 

" A young man who has more dollars than 
sense. I have known him but a short time." 

" Seems rather familiar on short acquaintance." 

"His way; his wealth gives him assurance." 

"But how did he gain so much if he don't 
know anything." 

"Blundered into it, like a good many others. 
His father invented a new Idnd of soap, which pros- 



2o6 CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 

pered immensely. The old man husbanded his 
savings carefully, made several very fortunate real 
estate investments, and died, leaving his worthy 
son a millionaire. He is a bachelor, looking for a 
wife." 

Bella did not state, that herself and mother 
had devoted a whole campaign at Saratoga to this 
same gentleman. 

" Strange !" exclaimed Juan, following the gen- 
tleman with his eyes. He seemed quite a lion, 
and was received everywhere with marked atten- 
tion. He was shortly after seated on a sofa sur- 
rounded by young ladies, from the midst of whom 
his loud rough laughter every once in a while burst 
out like a clap of thunder, as he uttered some 
broad, silly joke. 

" Money is everything, you know, now-a-days," 
said Bella, talking between the figures of the dance. 
" It doesn't make much difference how one gets it. 
The present owner of this house was poor a few 
years ago, and there used to be a rumor in circula- 
tion, that the former owner, for some cause, having 
temporarily made it over to Mr. Delmar, with the 
intention of transferring it to another, the latter 
gentleman held on to it. The old owner died poor, 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 207 

and Mr. Delmar is now the prince before wliom 
many bow. But people will talk, you know." 

" Yes ; but I should think the mere suspicion of 
such a thing would be ruinous to our host' s reputa- 
tion, and none would associate with him." 

" Nonsense ! Not at all. We don't cut rich peo- 
ple on suspicion. Even proven facts are not always 
sufficient, for there are ever extenuating circum- 
stances, you know. You see how his reception is 
attended to-night. There goes Mr. and Mrs. Prince 
now. He was a chief officer in the great Carlton 
Savings Bank, which took deposits as long as they 
could get a dollar, i^aid dividends, SAvore period- 
ically to funds which never existed or were worth- 
less, and finally suspended, causing dismay and ruin 
among thousands of poor people who had trusted 
the institution." 

"For shame!" exclaimed Juan. "And he 
shows his face ? ' ' 

"Look and see the smiles with which he is 
everywhere greeted. He lives in style, and has' 
plenty of money, made, Heaven only knows how. 
They did jDropose to run him for Mayor." 

Juan was surprised to find Bella so keen and 
masculine in her remarks, and not displeased at her 



2o8 CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 

just severity. The dance finished, they tooli a stroll 
around through the sj^lendid rooms, Bella answer- 
ing numerous greetings with pleasant little smiles, 
and enjoying to the utmost the admiring glances 
cast at her companion. 

" By George ! " they overheard one young man 
whisper ; " this mysterious Brazilian is a handsome 
fellow, anyhow." 

" Ah, yes ! but only a boy," replied his compan- 
ion, indifferently, who was himself, perliai3s, a year 
older, " Lots of rocks, I believe." 

" Do you see that young lady over there, smiling 
and ogling at me ? " asked Bella, sinking her voice 
confidentially. 

" The one in pink \ Yes." 

"Well, her father kept a corner grocery for 
years, making his money mostly out of poisonous 
liquors dealt out to the poor. But he got along 
and saved, and moved in a fine house, and turned 
his back on the grocery. Julia would consider it 
a deadly insult to allude to it in any way. They 
are extremely high-toned now, as if they had been 
bankers for a half century." 

" It would seem so from her appearance." 

" She is dying to be introduced to you, but I am 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 209 

just going to disappoint her for once, and make her 
angry." 

"I am sure I am happier with you," said Jnan, 
in a low tone. 

Bella gave him a little chiding glance. As the 
first strains of the "Beautiful Blue Danube" 
floated on the air, our young coujple glided off in 
the waltz, and conversation was for a time sus- 
pended. As they stoj^ped, a middle-aged gentle- 
man XDassed them, with grizzled hair and cheerful 
cast of countenance. 

" The president of the late Safety Life Insurance 
Company, which went into a receiver's hands, as I 
believe they call it, a month or so ago. Some say 
he could be sent to State Prison if the law was 
proi:)erly enforced ; but I think he has too much 
money, and stands too high. He seems cheerful, 
does he not?" 

" He does, indeed. One would scarcely think he 
ever did wrong. Perhaps he himself does not be- 
lieve he has, and could most eloquently explain 
everything." 

Juan began to gaze around on the company in 
some fear, not knowing but he might soon be jostled 
against a burglar or a cutthroat. At the same time 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 



he could not help contemplating his young lady in 
loving admiration, at being able to hold all these 
people at theii- true worth. 

In the supioer-room below, our young couple 
contrived to get safely ensconced in a quiet corner. 
Bella always had a pretty knack of getting any 
young man she wished aside in some way, and hav- 
ing him all to herself. A gentleman cousin, Jack 
Ruppert, to whom Bella had introduced our youth- 
ful hero, gallantly waited on the couple, so that 
they lacked nothing, and the young lady was free 
to continue her confidential conversation, and in- 
dulge her criticisms of passing guests. 

After the supper, where champagne had flowed 
most freely, Juan strolled up to the gentleman's 
room. It was filled with a dense smoke from a 
score of cigars, through which the figures of the 
occupants loomed up vaguely. 

The loud, consequential gentleman he had seen 
early in the evening, had a bottle of whisky un- 
corked, and was uproariously passing it around and 
urging the others to partake. 

"Champagne may be good enough," cried he, 
"as far it goes, but only Bourbon hits the right spot 
with me. Ha ! Schuyler, you there — well ! we're in 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 



for it — we're goin' to bust the old rascal's will, sure 
enough." 

These words were somewhat mysterious to Juan, 
who still stood in the doorway looking in. Through 
the smoke he finally made out another acquaint- 
ance — Bella' s thick-necked friend, stretched on the 
bed, his head toward the foot-board, and his boots 
upon the fine pillows, in a state of sleepy stupor. 
A sickening feeling took possession of our young 
Brazilian, as he looked upon the manly assemblage, 
and contemplated the damage that would be do^ie 
to the beautifully-furnished apartment, the fine car- 
pet, lace curtains and the like. He turned and saw 
Bella' s cousin at his elbow. 

" Rather smoky," said the cousin. 

' ' Rather. Is this the style f ' 

"Oh, yes. The gentlemen always want a 
smoke after supper." 

"Who is the individual so conspicuous with 
the bottle ?" asked Juan. 

" Oh ! a nej)hew of the great Boulder, who died 
some time since in the West, and left an immense 
fortune. There is a big contest over the Will now." 

" Why ?" 

"You see the old man had control of a great 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 



gold mine out there, and being ambitious to estab- 
lish a family name, with a colossal fortune, as well 
as to concentrate and protect his great interests, 
he left about nine-tenths of his fortune to a favorite 
son and that son's children, and distributed the 
rest in more moderate amounts among his other 
heirs, who received only about a million apiece." 

"A fortune of itself, which they don't choose 
to accept, I suppose?" 

" One child has attacked the Will furiously, and 
as the only possible chance to break it lies in the 
alleged irresjionsibility of the maker, the father has 
been dragged from the grave, and all his infirmities, 
moral or physical, exposed to public view. His phy- 
sician has been put upon the witness stand to prove 
his internal disarrangements, and has brought so 
many serious disorders to light, which are claimed to 
have been fastened on the old gentleman for years, 
that most people wonder how he ever could have 
risen from a poor boy to be the owner of an im- 
mense estate, attained the age of eighty, and con- 
trolled the affairs of his corporation almost to the 
day of his death. A man of a most remarkably clear 
head and indomitable resolution, the public opinion 
is that if this Will is broken, then the whole system 



CUPID AIMS A SHAFT. 213 

of wills might as well be abolished. His disap- 
pointed heirs, however, some say, would gladly 
make the old man out to have been a murderer, if 
it would only prove his incapacity to make a will." 

"Oh, horror!" 

The conversation ended, Juan again sought Bella 
in the i^arlor, and after an hour or so more, set out 
in their carriage for Brooklyn. Mrs. Milman had 
insisted that Juan should remain all night at their 
house. 





CHAPTEE Xy. 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN TAKEN IN. 




LVAREZ of course knew of the 
proposed absence of his son for 
the evening and night, and where 
he intended to sjiend the time. 
He had consented to the separa- 
tion reluctantly, but without 
making any objection. The son 
never concealed his movements 
from the father, any more than 
the father thought of thwarting the wishes of his 
son. A more loving and amiable couj^le could not 
have been found. 

Left to his own resources to spend the evening, 
our elderly traveler, who had been a sort of self- 
imposed prisoner for the few days previous, con- 
cluded he would quietly attend some theatre. He 

[214] 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 215 

consulted the hotel clerk about it, stating he was a 
stranger. 

" Well, it's too bad that the 'Black Crook' and 
'Humpty Dumpty' are both taken off," said he. 
" They each run nearly three years, and it seems as 
if the whole United States went to see them. They 
were splendid. We had some tragedians try it 
here for awhile, but no go, they were too heavy." 

"Heavy!" 

"Yes, too high-toned, you know; all Shakes- 
peare and the like." 

"Well, if Shakespeare wasn't good enough 
where would you get better ?' ' 

" Oar people like to be amused, or they like to 
be excited, and they want something or other new all 
the while. There's the City Theatre now, where they 
are playing the ' Satin Masks.' Better try that." 

As Alvarez stood by the office making a note of 
this, he happened to raise his eyes, and started 
forward with an exclamation of alarm. Three feet 
from him, with those crab-like organs of vision 
protruded to their utmost extent, stood the dreaded 
interviewer of the "Lightning Flash." Had Al- 
varez been a criminal, fleeing from justice, and the 
reporter an officer in the very act of a recapture, 



2t6 THE GOOD SAMARITAN 

there could not have spread over the features of the 
one a more intense expression of desi)air, or over 
the other a more satanic air of triumph. 

"Ha! Sefior, well met!" cried the tormentor, 
holding out his hand. 

"Naj^, sir, you are my enemy," responded our 
indignant and terrified Brazilian. 

"Not so, Sehor ; I am your friend. Were you 
going out \ Let us walk together." 

" First, sir, a promise. No interviews to- 
night." 

"Agreed." 

" And sir, no jDublicity " 

"Hold, Sehor! Not too many things at once. 
The people, you know, have a claim upon us." 

Silenced but not convinced, Alvarez reluctantly 
proceeded out in the street, accompanied by his 
quondam acquaintance, and together they turned 
ujD Broadway. The reporter seemed bent upon 
making himself agreeable. After conversation on 
a great variety of topics, upon which he displayed 
a most intimate knowledge, he took a side glance 
at literature. 

"One might supjDOse now that our publishers 
would wish to foster native talent, but the princi- 



TAKEN IN. 217 



pal thing they desire to foster is dollars and cents. 
In the absence of an International coxDyright, an 
English author s brains can be made use of without 
expense to the book-seller, but to the injury of 
both the English and American author," 

"How so?" 

"No publisher will pay an American a fair 
I)rice for a story or a poem, when he can get some- 
thing equally as good from across the water, free of 
charge. I have suffered by this myself. In my 
youth I thirsted for fame. I wrote a book. Six- 
teen publishers perused the manuscript, and 
respectfully returned it. One only was kind 
enough to make me an offer, agreeing if I would 
advance the necessary funds for the publication 
and advertisement, to give me ten per cent, of the 
net profits." 

The author was sad and silent for awhile as he 
related this reminiscence. 

"The drama, sir, is in a condition conssiderably 
below our literature," continued he, after a while, 
"and our jjlay-writers fare even worse than the 
poets," 

" Indeed ! " exclaimed our Brazilian, 

" Yes, sir. Managers and publishers are, of 
10 . 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN 



course, always on the make, and desire to get ma- 
terial from sources the least exx)ensive, while the 
public seem actually to prefer a foreign to a domes- 
tic article, no matter what it is or how the merits 
compare. An American artist of any kind, finds 
little favor until he has achieved some distinction 
abroad. Our dramatists can scarcely get recogni- 
tion at all and meet little encouragement any- 
where." 

"Perhaps they are not of as good material as 
the foreign." 

"They have little opportunity to show what 
they are, since no manager will undertake to pro- 
duce their work unless they put up a large share 
of the necessary funds. If, once in a great while, 
an original American ]3lay is brought out at a man- 
ager's risk, the autlior merely receives a small 
nominal amount, hardly worth mentioning, and in 
no way remunerating him for his time or brains. 
Any author offering his work to a manager usually 
gets snubbed and baffled, and put off, until in slieer 
desperation he throws his manuscript in the fire. 
IVe had some experience, and yet, all the time the 
papers are crying out that we have no American 
plays." 



TAKEN IN. 219 



"And the foreign plays you speak of ?" 

' ' A drama is no sooner j^roduced in London or 
Paris, and gives the least sign of success, than it 
is brought out here, and the success, real or fancied, 
advertised all over. French plays, wherein char- 
acters of doubtful virtue parade their misfortunes, • 
and appeal to the sympathies of the audience, find 
great favor. We had the leg drama all the rage 
for several years, but the furor is now more or less 
worn off. Domestic tribulation with a considerable 
sprinkle of wickedness seems now to take best." 

They had turned round into Union square as 
they spoke, and stopped for a moment to look at 
the moon, which was just rising. 

"If you wish to see an illustration of clever 
French work on the American stage, step in there," 
continued the reporter, pointing to the blazing 
entrance of a theatre not far distant, "They only 
produce French adaptations there with the regular 
company. I must leave you now, but will see you 
again to-morrow. Good-evening." 

" Well, thank you, my friend," replied Alvarez. 
"PU take your advice. Good-evening." 

They parted, the eager and nervous interviewer 
proceeding across the square, while our traveler 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN 



went over for his ticket to the box ofiioe. The thea- 
tre proved to be the same the hotel clerk had indi- 
cated. He was soon comfortably seated reading the 
play bill, which he found to be a most unique 
specimen of spicy literature. One remarkable thing 
seemed to be, that every play mentioned, on every 
stage, wcs one of unusual merit as well as being a 
great success. He thought the metroi3olis was most 
fortunate, at this time, to have a collection of such 
extraordinary good work. 

After the theatre had become tolerably well- 
tilled, and the orchestra had i3layed the overture, 
the curtain rose ux)on the first act of "The Satin 
Masks." A provincial young wife, having a most 
exalted idea of her husband's stern virtue and strict 
attention to business, is on a visit to a married 
female friend in the metropolis. Tlie latter, having 
very little faith in her own husband's ability to 
resist temptation, or, in fact, of any other man, let 
alone the supi^osed perfect individual, proposes to 
the provincial lady to give the virtue of her consort 
a trial. This is acceded to. Notes, stamped with a 
coronet, are written to the husbands, making sur- 
reptitious engagements to take two ladies en masque 
to a notorious though somewhat private garden in 



TAKEN IN. 



the city, and, after the reception of the notes, the 
curtain falls on the first act. 

The cleverness of the jjlay was shown in the 
interest it had excited among the audience, to know 
the result of the complications which they foresaw 
must now arise. But Alvarez had an nneasy feel- 
ing that the pictures it had disclosed, and the char- 
acters it had opened up, were anything but healthy, 
and that there w^as a sort of nnhallowed trifling 
with certain things which should have been sa- 
cred. 

Not only was the young husband aimed at in 
this exhibition, but youth and old age were likewise 
included in the category, in the persons of a hoary- 
headed married man and his youthful nephew, both 
of whom were shown to be as susceptible as the 
others. The intent, apparently, was to prove that the 
genus man, old and young, married or single, were 
all pretty much alike in certain directions. 

Alvarez looked around at the audience, and saw 
himself surrounded, on all sides, by well-dressed 
ladies and gentlemen, many of whom were but in 
the first blush of youth. But what was his sur- 
prise to see, only a few rows ahead of him, Mr. 
Milman, seated alongside a rather showily -dressed 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN 



young woman, to whom he appeared exceedingly 
attentive. As it was neither his wife nor daughter, 
our Brazilian judged it to be some female relative, 
perhaps from the country. 

Again the curtain arose, and the second act be- 
gan. It was the interior of Langhorne Gfarden, with 
a most repulsive exhibition of a coarse head-Avaiter, 
who sticks his lingers in an oyster stew, and fishes 
out and swallows an oyster before joassing it out to 
the party ordering it, with other shabby tricks un- 
necessary to relate. By and by the parties arrive, 
first the old man accompanied with a most rollick- 
ing damsel, then the nephew with a lady en mas- 
que, then the husbands sejoarately, each with the 
other' s wife disguised. The parties were shown into 
separate private apartments oi^ening out into the 
main room, as they arrived. The action continued, 
the old man becomes intoxicated, and makes a most 
shameful exhibition of himself, things get mixed 
generally, and the whole act was so replete with 
immoral suggestion that an atmosjjhere of impurity 
seemed to prevade the whole place. 

It brought a blush to the face of our traveler, 
and he looked around nervously as if contemplating 
an escape. Mr. Milman and his lady seemed to be 



TAKEN IN. 223 



enjoying it immensely and frequently exchanged 
intelligent smiles. 

The third act brought the complications to a 
climax, when explanations were in order, upon the 
following morning. A most demure maid, having 
assisted in the plot of her mistress by writing the 
notes, thought she might as well take a hand in 
herself. Having inveigled the nejAew to the gar- 
den, and being disguised the same as the two ladies, 
slie had managed to mix up matters most mysteri- 
ously. The terror of the old man at the thought of 
being found out by his wife, the arrival of the old 
lady at an unexx:)ected time, the entrance of the in- 
nocent husband with a valise as if just from Roch- 
ester, with other points, were most ingeniously 
evolved, and brought forward with telling effect. 
It was a clever French play, with all the brilliant 
wickedness, and theatrical finish of Paris, trans- 
formed into the sturdy Anglo-Saxon tongue. It 
tended to break up all confidence, and ridicule all 
ideal. It was scoffing, unsound, and, if viewed 
closely, degrading, having no element ennobling or 
insi^iring in any way. 

As Alvarez had been informed that this theatre 
exhibited nothing but adaptations of French plays, 



224 THE GOOD SAMARITAN 

and judging the one jnst witnessed to be a fair sam- 
ple, lie was naturally led into a reflection as to 
whether the theatre generally was an educator and 
leader of the public taste, or merely gave the people 
the sort of food they desired. After being informed 
that a j)lay of this kind usually ran all winter, and 
had been found very profitable for a great number 
of seasons, he judged there must be something 
wrong in the people themselves to make the success 
of this sort of reiDresentations not only j)ossible, but 
certain. 

He revolved this in his mind as he emerged into 
the street and turned toward University place. As 
he i^assed by a bright-looking, tastefully-decorated 
restaurant, the entrance of which was down a few 
steps from the sidewalk, he was attracted by the 
inviting display, and stepped in for an ice. While 
stationed at a table there, a little to one side, Mr. 
Milman, accompanied by the same lady by whom 
he had been seated at the theatre, passed quickly 
through to one of the retired little rooms attached 
to the saloon. A waiter having hastened to receive 
orders, shortly after returned with a bottle of cliam- 
I)agne on ice, and in a second trip brought glasses, 
some delicate cakes, and ice cream. Alvarez judged 



TAKEN IN. 225 



the female relative from the country was going to be 
entertained in good style. It hardly entered his 
mind to snpx)ose that he was again witnessing the 
enactment of a play similar in some respects to that 
which he had just left. He would, perhax)s, have 
been still more puzzled had he heard Mrs. Milman' s 
statement to his son that her husband was forced to 
be away that night on business. 

Mr. Mil man had not seen Alvarez either at the 
theatre or the sal oon, and the latter had thought best 
not to endeavor to attract the attention of his banker. 
Our Brazilian was soon out in the moonlit street, 
walking quietly toward his hotel, ruminating upon 
what he had seen, and wondering also if Juan v/as 
having a good time. 

As he passed a certain corner he observed a man, 
apparently intoxicated, stumble and fall. A burly 
policeman was upon him in a moment, and grasi)ing 
him roughly by the collar, had dragged him to his 
feet. The semi-conscious individual, growing pug- 
nacious, remonstrated against the treatment, and 
struck out wildly ; but the brave x)oliceman show- 
ered two or three heavy blows over the prisoner's 
head with his locust, and then rai3i3ed for assistance, 
A brother officer was quickly on the scene, and each 
10* 



2 26 THE GOOD SAAIARITAN 

taking hold of an arm of the unresisting victim, 
were proceeding rapidly to convert him into an un- 
recognizable jelly. Alvarez, indignant, and full of 
pity for the wretch, rushed up. 

"Why, officers!" cried he, "for shame! Don't 
kill the man!" 

" Curse ye ! what have you got to do with it ?" 
answered one, fiercely. 

" Only the instincts of a common humanity — " 

"Lay him out, Tom!" shouted the other of- 
licer. "He's interferin' with the law. Take him 
in." 

Alvarez suddenly found a heavy hand laid on 
his throat, which, being unexpected and accom- 
panied with a half shove, sent him to the sidewalk, 
cutting a gash over his eye and temporarily stun- 
ning him. When he came to himself he was being 
dragged along to a station-house, behind the other 
unfortunate wretch whom he had endeavored to 
protect. His face was covered with blood, and his 
clothes were torn, while his senses were still some- 
what scattered. Confronted, at the station-house, 
by the captain of the x)recinct, he was too much 
hurt to give any intelligent answer to questions put 
to him. 



TAKEN IN, 227 



"A desperate fellow, sir," said the officer having 
him in charge. 

"What's he been up to ?" 

"He was tryin' to interfere with the law, sir, 
and help off the rascal we have along wid us." 

"Ah! incitin' to riot, eh!" replied the captain, 
writing in his book. "Well, hand over his watch 
and pocket-book, and let's have his shooting-iron, 
if he's got one, and lock him up for the night. 
Kernan, you've done your duty well, and, Maloney, 
you're not behind him this time." 




CHAPTER XVI. 



alas! pooe yorick. 

LYAREZ, after some little time, 
came fully to himself, and, stand- 
ing iij), stretched his limbs, and 
was happy to find himself tolera- 
bly whole. Hs could not at first 
feel certain where he was, or how 
he came there, but gradually 
regaining his lost powers, the 
extent of his misfortunes, and the 
events which had led thereto, all came back to him. 
He was, however, a philosopher, and always in- 
clined to take things as they came, without very 
much lamenting his fate. He looked around ; there 
was a dim light thrown in the cell, by the aid of 
which he indistinctly made out a human form j)ros- 
trate on the floor near him. He scanned this 

[228] 




ALAS! POOR YORICK. 229 

intently, but could not see enough to give liim any 
intelligent ideas as to its personality. 

After gazing some time, oar traveler observed 
the figure move slightly, and at the same time, 
heard a moan as if of i)ain. All his symjiathies 
were enlisted in a moment. He kneeled down be- 
side the prostrate brother, and feeling in his iDocket 
for a match, struck it and held it before the face of 
the unfortunate one. The man opened his eyes 
wearily, and Alvarez at once recognized the poor 
fellow who was indirectly the cause of his own 
imprisonment. The station-house had been pretty 
full when the prisoners arrived, and they had been 
thrust in a cell and locked ui3 together. 

" Poor fellow !" said Alvarez pityingly, "he is 
nearly killed ! Cheer up, man," continued he, 
louder, taking the wretch's hand as his match went 
out, "■ it may yet be all well with you." 

"You're kind, mister," groaned the other, "but 
it's all U13 with me this time, sure." 

"Nay, say not so. Can I do anything for 
you?" 

" Ah, sir ! a little water — may be — " 

Alvarez groped around, peering in all directions, 
and at last discovered a stone pitcher with some 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 



water. He hastened to hold it to the poor fellow's 
lips, who, after raising his head a little and drink- 
ing, again sank back on the floor. Alvarez took off 
his own coat and propped up his companion's head, 
and soaking his handkerchief in the water, bound 
it around those bloody temples. The battered 
wretch seemed a little revived, and opened his 
eyes wider. 

"Tliank'ee, mister, thank' ee, kindly," said he, 
in a low tone. 

"You have been unfortunate to-night," said 
Alvarez. 

"Everything is agin me, mister, and it's all 
come to once. I worn't alius a drinkin' man." 

"Ah! Well, I am glad of that. But let us 
hope you will not be hereafter, for your own sake 
at least," said Alvarez. 

"I was a mechanic, mister," continued the 
other, speaking with some difficulty, "and I had 
as likely a wife as need be, and a brace of brave 
lads. I worked hard myself, and the good woman 
saved, and we had scraped up nigh onto three hun- 
dred dollars, mister, and had it in the Carlton Sav- 
ings Bank." 

"That was i)raiseworthy, indeed. Every man 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 231 

should deny liimsQlf and save something in times of 
prosperity." 

"Ay, mister, so we said. We wor goin' West 
shortly, thinkin', you know, it would be better for 
the boys. I had papers out on my life, too, mister, 
in case anything shud haj^pen to me sudden-like, 
while the lads wor small, the old woman wud have 
somethin' to fall back on ; some little extra cash, 
you know, mister." 

"I understand — you had a small policy on your 
life, my friend ; very thoughtful on your part." 

"We'd made a good many inquiries about the 
Bank, off and on, and every one said it wor first- 
class. It was in a big handsome buildin', and a 
very big-talkin' man for President. They had on 
their cards a good many big men, too. Beside that, 
my boss said, their showing was very good, 
and " 

"I see. Their sworn yearly statement showed 
a satisfactory surplus and investment of dex)osits." 

"I suppose so, mister. You put it better than 
me. But one day we heard there was somethin' 
wrong, and one or two of our friends who had cash 
there, said they wor goin' to take it out, so I 
thought I wud up and take mine out too. When I 



232 ALAS! POOR YORICK. 

came though, there wor llfty or more ahead of me 
and afore my turn, it wor too late that day. Next 
mornin' I went at four o'clock, and was first one ; 
at sunrise there wor more than two hundred behind 
me, and afore ten o'clock the people stretched 
down live blocks. But they never opened at all 
that day. A notice was put up, sayin' it was all 
right, but we must go home and wait. That's a 
year ago, and we never yet got one dollar." 

"Tlio scoundrels!" exclaimed Alvarez. "Cer- 
tainly, according to my understanding of Savings 
Banks, they have no business to fail, and only by 
a plain violation of the law, can they do so. Men 
and women lolace their funds with them in trust, 
believing them subject to no risk whatever, as an 
ordinary business is." It was just as Alvarez was 
saying these words that Bella was pointing out to 
Juan the worthy officer of the institution in ques- 
tion, passing smilingly in review before them. 

"A few days after this," continued the xjrisoner, 
" the insurance folks went up, too, and people said 
it was a great fraud. They'd showed lots of cash 
and lots of papers got out on lives, but they never 
had any cash, and the life papers wor never ordered 
and never took. But I wor quite discouraged like. 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 233 

and didn't care. It seemed, mister, as if everytliin' 
wor agin tlie i^oor man, and it wor foolish to stint 
and save, you know." 

" Precisely, my friend. Your wrongs had made 
you desperate, and you believed further effort at 
economy useless." 

" I spent as fast as I made then, and when our 
Brotherhood ordered a strike, I had to stop work, 
mister, and I had nothin' and I just let every thin' 
go to the dogs. The wife did what she could. I 
took to drink, and here I am." 

The i^oor fellow at tliis i)oint turned painfully 
on his side, and groaned aloud. The strong frame, 
the stout heart, the hopeful, cheerful nature, was a 
complete and utter wreck, as he lay there, a broken 
and bloody mass of wretched humanity. Vile as 
drunkenness is, as inexcusable in most cases, Al- 
varez mused silently over the fallen one before 
him, and wondered which, in the eyes of the 
Almighty, would be held most guilty — the com- 
fortable bank jiresident or the miserable victim 
before him ? 

The mechanic lay silent for so long a time that 
Alvarez judged that he had fallen asleep and did 
not disturb him. He was himself much exhausted, 



234 ALAS! POOR YORICK. 

and taking a seat on the tloor he leaned against the 
wall and closed his eyes. 

How long our traveler had slept he knew not, 
but the light of the sun was streaming in the cell 
when he fully awoke. His first thought was for his 
companion, whom he saw lying perfectly quiet, 
partly on his face. Going to him softly Alvarez 
was startled to observe the rigid look of his fea- 
tures, and taking his hand shuddered to find it ice 
cold. The poor forlorn wreck, once a good bark 
laden with hope, and sailing on the ocean of life, 
had gone to pieces at last and was no more. Alva- 
rez uttered a silent prayer, and covered up the poor 
face with his handkerchief, and straightened those 
once stalwart limbs as well as he could. 

At last the officer in charge came, with some 
breakfast for the prisoners, and uttered an exclama- 
tion of impatience and disgust at finding one of 
them dead. The live one was quickly taken out, 
and after awhile handcuJEfed to a stalwart negro, and 
shoved into the Black Maria, which was already full 
to stilling. He was soon with his undesirable com- 
panions rattling down town toward the Tombs. 

Police Justice Michael C. Rooney came into 
court about ten o'clock, as the handcuffed prison- 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 235 

ers, penned np in a corner like sheep, were awaiting 
his pleasure. The Justice was a well-known runner 
of the machine in his ward, and popular with the 
"bo3^s." He always made it as easy for them as 
he could, and never neglected any of their friends if 
proxoerly notified about the matter. Sticking by 
one's friends, and friends' friends, was a maxim the 
Justice had always strictly adhered to and believed 
in, a x>^'inciple of which, at that time, the Chief 
Magistrate of the nation was likewise an ardent ad- 
vocate. 

Quickly disposing of the crowd of vagabonds 
and law-breakers with whom the unfortunate Bra- 
zilian had been accompanied, the mighty judge at 
length reached the case in which we are interested. 

" Here, you, sir," cried his Honor, beckoning to 
Alvarez, "stand up here." 

Alvarez had had no opportunity to attend to his 
toilet. His face was unwashed, his hair unkempt, 
while his clothes were torn and dirty. Besides this, 
the coat which he had generously removed to make 
a pillow for his dying comrade, he had not recov- 
ered, and he had therefore been obliged to appear 
ingloriously in his shirt sleeves. 

"What's his name 'P asked the judge of Officer 



236 ALAS! POOR YORICK. 

Maloney, who was standing there bareheaded, with 
Officer Kernan a short distance off. 

"He wonldn't give any name, yer Honor, at the 
station," answered the officer. "He went for us, 
Kernan and me, in the street, and tried to get a man 
off we had just nabbed." 

"'Tis false," cried Alvarez, indignantly, 

U T 5 5 

"Silence! you villain," roared the justice, 
"Will you attempt to browbeat this court? I'll 
attend to your case, you dirty rascal ! Here, officer, 
take him around and lock him up, and bring him 
here again to-morrow at twelve o'clock. Maybe 
he'll be tamed a little by that time." 

So our traveler was taken by the arm, and 
roughly shoved down the stairs, out of the court- 
room, and around into the jDrison yard, and so iip 
into a cell on the second tier. Left there to his re- 
flections, he was miserable. He felt sick at heart at 
the unjust and unexpected treatment he was receiv- 
ing ; he felt physically unwell from loss of sleep 
and insufficient food, from foul air and contact with 
vile companions. The thought, too, that Juan must 
be anxiously awaiting his coming, and in an agony 
of suspense at his prolonged absence, made him 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 237 

unhappy. He hesitated about sending word to his 
son, thinking it miglit be possible to get released 
during the day. He thought, therefore, of Blod- 
son, and concluded, as he would probably need 
a lawyer's services to extricate himself, he would 
send for his acquaintance. Calling the jailer, he 
requested from him a pencil and bit of paper, and 
the services of a messenger. The jailer said the 
prisoner could have anything he wanted, if he was 
ready to pay for it. Thereupon the required 
articles were produced, as well as a basin of water 
with a brush and comb, and a messenger was said 
to be ready outside. Alvarez wrote a few words to 
Blodson, requesting his immediate attendance. 

Shortly after twelve o'clock, Blodson sent up 
word from the counsel room, that he was ready for 
an interview, and Alvarez was conducted thither. 

"Why, Sehor !" cried Blodson, shaking hands, 
" this is unfortunate," 

" Yes, sir. The law sometimes works injustice." 

"And our gallant police sometimes makes mis- 
takes, eh!" 

"Precisely." 

" But it is a grave thing. Sen or, to interfere with 
the ofhcers of the law, which I see by the entry you 



238 ALAS! POOR YORICK. 

are charged with. How did it happen?" There- 
upon Alvarez related the full circumstances, the 
fearful beating the poor intoxicated man was 
receiving, from the effects of which he had after- 
wards died, his own remonstrance by word of 
mouth, his consequent arrest and confinement, with 
the preliminary hearing already had. 

The lawyer stated he would be on hand next day 
at noon, and so left, not before stating, however, 
that his retaining fee would be one hundred dollars. 
For this amount, Alvarez gave him an order on 
Milman, and was then conducted back to his cell. 

He was still in doubt as to whether he ought yet 
to notify his son of his condition, but at length, 
concluding it would be cruelty to keex) the young 
man longer in suspense, he decided to send a note. 
The former messenger was again employed, and as 
this had been the fifteenth time that day he had 
been out on various errands, and as each time he 
had taken some spiritual refreshment by the way, 
he could hardly be called in as good a condition for 
this fifteenth trip as for the first. However, he 
sallied out, but meeting a friend and determining 
to be convivial to the last, the fifteenth effort at 
imbibing i^roved too much for his endurance. He 



ALAS! POOR YORICK. 239 

sank to slumber by a board fence, in a vacant lot, 
with Alvarez's note snugly tucked inside his hat. 

Another morning arrived, and at length, the 
clocks struck twelve, upon which Alvarez was 
waited on by an officer, and conducted into the 
court-room, where he found Blodson in waiting. 

"Well, sir," cried Justice Rooney, as our Bra- 
zilian stood before him, looking somewhat more 
respectable than he had the day before, for he had 
procured a coat from the jailer. " Well, sir, are 
you ready to give your name and business yet % ' ' 

"Certainly, your honor." 

"Out with it, then." 

" I am Pedro Alvarez, gentleman and traveler, 
from Brazil." 

The justice gave a low whistle, and scrutinized 
him a little more closely. 

" Well, what have you got to say for yourself ?" 

"May it please your honor, 1 am here to answer 
for the prisoner," said Blodson, rising. 

Justice Rooney regarded him with a prolonged 
scowl, and then burst forth : 

" You are, eh, you accursed petty fogger \ Well, 
he won't need your services, I can tell you." 

Blodson reddened, but kept his temper. 



240 ALAS! POOR YORICK. 

"May it please the court, I have examined the 
complaint against the prisoner, and I iind nothing 
to warrant liis being held. He is a gentleman, who, 
in passing along the street, saw two officers beating 
a man to death — " 

"Enough, sir. I'll hear no insinuations against 
two worthy officers. Prisoner, you will need no 
counsel here — better dismiss this fellow at once." 

"Sir, ril dismiss myself," cried Blodson. "I 
see I can do my client no good before such a court 
as this. But, look out for yourself, Judge! I'll 
have you bounced inside of six months, or my 
name's not Blodson." 

"Leave the court, you scoundrel!" cried the 
justice, in a rage, after the retreating lawyer. 
"Now, sir," continued he, calming down a little, 
and again addressing the i^risoner, "do you want to 
settle, or shall I send you up ?" 

"Settle!" exclaimed Alvarez, somewhat bewil- 
dered, "I — I— really — " 

"Here, officer, since the prisoner is so thick- 
headed, take him back and lock him up. We'll 
try him again to-morrow at twelve o'clock." 

So the mystified Brazilian was again dragged out 
of the court, and around into the prison. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE IMPOSTOR STANDS EXPOSED. 




N hour after, Blodson again sent 
up word to Alvarez, and another 
interview took place. 

"I couldn't do any good be- 
fore that Judge," said the law- 
yer. 

"Indeed! and why not?" in- 
quired the Brazilian. ' ' Is not 
one man bound to administer the 
law as well as another." 

"Who, Rooney? Why, my dear sir, he only 
got the nomination by the skin of his teeth. He 
lives up in our ward, and I worked against him 
last election, and he knows it. He'd send an inno- 
cent man up in a minute if I had anything to do 
with him, and he thought he could spite me. Be- 
ll [241] 



242 THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

sides, he wants to serve the two officers that made 
the arrest a good turn ; they are political friends of 
his. Yours is not an exceptional case, by any 
means, Sehor." 

Alvarez said nothing, but gazed sadly and in- 
tently on the ground. 

"Now, my plan in your case," continued Blod- 
son, "is to send you a lawyer that is a personal 
friend of Rooney, and helped elect him. He'll get 
you out all right in a few hours. Til go to see him 
forthwith. But I want your affidavit about this 
matter, which I'll hang on to and make it warm for 
Rooney some of these days." With that Blodson 
left, and our Brazilian was once more put under 
lock and key. 

In the afternoon he was visited by the second 
lawyer, and a very brief interview took place. 

"Ah! Senor Alvarez. Mr. Blodson has told me 
about your matter. Here's my card." 

"Mr. Mulheany ! Glad to make your acquain- 
tance." 

"You need my services, Senor ?" 

" I loresume so, since Mr. Blodson says he can- 
not help me." 

"Well, sir, one hundred dollars will do the 



THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 243 

business, upon which I will engage to have you 
released before night," 

"But, sir, I have already paid Mr. Blodson the 
same amount." 

"With that of course I have nothing to do. 
We are in no way connected." 

Alvarez stroked his beard undecidedly. 

"Had I not better state the case to you first, so 
you may judge of the merits ?" asked Alvarez. 

" Not at all necessary, my dear sir, and I am 
short of time just now. A check is all that is re- 
quired," replied the lawyer. 

Alvarez reluctantly wrote another order on Mil- 
man for the required amount, and Mr. Mulheany 
departed. Later in the day he returned and re- 
ported to his client. 

"I congratulate you, Senor, you are a free 
man." 

" At last !" exclaimed Alvarez with a sigh. 

" Yes, Mr. Muldoon has an order from the judge 
for your immediate discharge, and will bring it 
around shortly." 

"Let us go th 

"But, Senor.' 



244 1'HE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

"The officers were brave and efficient, and the 
judge wishes them rewarded." 

"Brave!" cried our traveler in scorn, "for a 
strong man, armed with a club, to beat one unarmed 
and intoxicated, and then call another to help him ! 
Efficient ! to arrest me, an inoffensive gentleman, for 
saying a kind word, and throw me in jail charged 
with inciting to riot, when there was not another 
soul in the street !" 

" Softly, Senor, softly. The police has to keep 
the i3eace, and an officer likes to show his alertness. 
Now when you go for your valuables to the station, 
if you should leave a bill for each of them, it would 
encourage them, and please the judge " 

"Never, sir, never. AVith what face can I 
reward men who have killed a human being before 
my eyes, and worked a grievous wrong on me % My 
hand would wither." 

"But, Sehor " 

"Enough, sir, enough. Let them take all. I 
shall not go near the accursed place to claim the 
proijerty, and care not if I never see it again." 

The lawyer seemed satisfied, and with this the 
conversation ceased. 

In a short tjme Mr. Muldoon came around. 



THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. -245 

When this gentleman's name had been mentioned, 
Alvarez was a little puzzled to know who he could 
be, but had said nothing. The party soon intro- 
duced himself. 

"I'm Patrick Muldoon, sir, and I have your 
order of release safe in my pocket." 

"Thank you, Mr. Muldoon," said our Brazilian, 
humbly. " Shall we go at once?" 

"Yes, sir, as quick as you like. But here is 
the bill, showing the balance you owe our firm." 

"Firm! What firm?" inquired Alvarez, put- 
ting on his glasses. 

"Indeed, sir, you must know I'm Mr. Mul- 
heany's partner." 

"Partner! I didn't know he had a partner, 
and didn't care. I paid him a hundred dollars 
for his services, and that was to be the end 
of it." 

"Not much, my dear sir. The firm is Mul- 
heany and Muldoon. If Mr. Mulheany had no 
partner he might be as generous as he pleased ; 
but you see he has. The balance due is just 
ninety-seven dollars and twenty-five cents. A check 
for that will end the matter." 

"Not one dollar more, sir." 



246 THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

"Ah, Senor, all riglit. If you like your quar- 
ters and companions here so well, I may as well 
bid you good- day." 

He was about to go, when the harassed and 
desperate Alvarez called him back. 

"Give me the pen and paper, and let me end 
this accursed bondage." 

The order for the money was soon written, the 
release soon effected, and our Brazilian stood in 
the street once more a free man. 

The Jailer had been informed that by sending to 
the hotel in the morning, he would find his money 
enclosed for him, and was content. 

The lamps were being lighted as Alvarez emerged 
into the street. He felt a natural reluctance to 
getting in a public car, even if he had had the nec- 
essary coin in his pocket, which he had not ; and 
he therefore concluded to walk to the hotel, 
although a distance of several miles. Full of bitter 
reflections upon his recent experience, he moved 
slowly and sadly along, looking neither to right nor 
left. 

The prolonged absence of his son after having 
had a message sent to him, was most unaccountable. 
Alvarez began to fear that something fatal had hap- 



THE lAiPOSTOR EXPOSED. 247 

pened to Juan, and concluded that he never could 
have reached the hotel in safety. His own experi- 
ence having been so remarkable and unexpected, 
and his observations, so far, of the possibilities of a 
residence among the American people having been 
so unfortunate, he was prepared for the worst, and 
would scarcely have been surprised, had he found 
Juan kidnapped and shipped off as a slave, or any 
other unheard-of disaster. Depressed in spirits and 
physically weak, he trudged wearily along, un- 
mindful of the passers-by. 

And Juan, it must not be supposed, during this 
time, was either tranquil or happy. He had arrived 
at the hotel about noon, on the day following the 
party. In the society of Bella, the hours had 
glided along so delightfully, and he had, withal, 
surrounded himself by an atmos^jhere so romantic, 
that he knew not whether he had been bewitched or 
not. Of one thing he was positive, he had never 
before been so happy. Brought up in seclusion, 
entirely away from all female society of his own 
age or station, the presence of the American 
young lady was, to him, an entirely new exis- 
tence. 

In this delightful frame of mind he reached the 



248 THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

hotel, only to find his father most mysteriously 
absent, his bed not slept in, and none of the hotel 
people having seen him since the evening before. 
One of the clerks mentioned about the consultation 
with regard to the different theatres, and judged 
from that, he had gone to one of them ; but that was 
all he knew. Full of anxiety and alarm, the young 
man resolved to search the morning papers carefully 
before commencing any extended inquiry. He was 
bewildered with the multitude of crimes and casual- 
ties that were detailed, not only from the two cities 
but from all joarts of the country. It seemed to 
him as if he read of more villainous transactions and 
more frightful accidents that morning, than he had 
heard of in all his life before. 

There was one extended account of two brave 
officers, who had the night before, in effecting the 
arrest of a burglar in the very act of breaking in a 
dwelling between midnight and one o'clock, had 
been charged on by a most desperate outlaw, at the 
head of a band of followers, in an attempt to rescue 
the captured confederate. 

The account detailed the coolness and courage 
of the two representatives of the law, who though 
outnumbered, had held their ground, and finally 



THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 249 

succeeded in bearing off the would-be burglar, as 
well as tlie aforesaid leader of tlie assault. Even 
had he been present at the actual arrest of his 
parent, Juan would scarcely have recognized this 
narrative, but as it was he saw not the slightest 
connection between the event and anything that 
could interest him. 

A few lines in another part of the paper gave 
the descriiotion of an elderly gentleman, who had 
been fished out of the East river, somewhat cut 
about the head and stripped of his valuables, but 
about whom nothing was discovered whereby he 
could be identified. Juan's heart sank within him 
as he thought, that in some particulars he recog- 
nized his beloved father. The body was on mourn- 
ful exhibition at the Morgue, waiting for a claimant. 
In a tremor of apprehension and despair, the young 
man hastened thither. Upon arrival and admit- 
tance, scarcely daring to look at the pitiable object 
which lay, half naked, with the cool water dripping 
over him, and the clothes that were his when 
living hanging over his head, Juan, at length, 
mustered up courage sufficient to investigate, and 
become i30sitive that the poor clay on exhibition 

there was not the object of his search. 
11* 



25 o THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

Niglit approached, and still tlie alarmed, and 
now desperate, son was as much at sea as ever. 
Pale and haggard, he waited and watched most of 
the night, but toward morning sunk into an uneasy 
slumber. As soon after breakfast as he thought 
there was any possibility of seeing Mr. Milman he 
hastened to his office, and laid his trouble before 
him. The banker was as much perplexed as the 
young man, but advised visiting the central police 
office and putting advertisements at once in all the 
evening papers, to be followed by similar advertise- 
ments in the morning papers. The advice was fol- 
lowed without delay, and late in the afternoon Juan 
again sought the hotel. 

In taking up and scanning the last edition of the 
"Lightning Flash," shortly after, what was the 
young man's astonishment and indignation to find 
in great head-lines, in a prominent column on the 
front page : 

Another Feaud Exposed. 



A Nobleman before a Magistrate. 



The Emperor of Brazil in Limbo. 



Felony, Assault and Drunkenness. 



THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 251 

The account that followed was most remarkable. 
It gave a synox)sis of the preliminary examination 
had before Justice Rooney that morning, with a 
most glowing description of the circumstances of 
the arrest, the alleged crime, and so on, and then 
proceeded to unfold who the criminal really was. 
A most clever adventurer, with a pretended son, 
had been passing himself off as a nobleman of 
standing from Brazil, and had even gone so far as 
to hint his actually being the Emperor himself, 
traveling incognito. His opportune arrest at a 
time when he was caught in the very act of a 
heinous offense had, however, interrupted his dar- 
ing machinations. 

Juan started to his feet crushing the paper in 
his hand, and gnashing his teeth. He hastened to 
the office of the hotel, and inquired how he could 
get in the city prison, and was told only with an 
order from a Judge of the court. Where did Jus- 
tice Rooney live % The hotel clerk gave it up. In 
an agony of despair Juan rushed out in the street, 
hardly knowing what he was about. One block 
away from the hotel, he encountered his father 
wearily dragging himself along. They locked 
themselves in one another's embrace, and in silence, 



252 THE IMPOSTOR EXPOSED. 

slied tears uj)on each otlier's neck, very much to 
the amazement of the passers-by. 

The morning journals took up the strain 
sounded by the "Lightning Flash." The account 
of the whole affair, from beginning to end, was 
much more fully detailed, with the pretended 
nobleman's movements, since he had assumed his. 
role, and the effort to shove his son into good 
society. One Journal even went so far as to give a 
history of the gang to which the would-be Emperor 
belonged, with the conception of the design and the 
nearness with which he had worked it out. 

The burden of the editorial comment in all was 
the ease with which our people were continually 
imposed ui)on by these bogus lords, and the great 
eagerness with which Americans, in spite of their 
pretended contemj^t for nobility, ran after and lion- 
ized anyone who gave the slightest indication of 
having gentle blood in his veins. The cleverness 
of the rascal in question in inlaying upon his uni- 
versal weakness, was acknowledged by all the 
papers to have been most admirable. 



■v/> 



^TH AVENUE HOTEL, 

)PPOSITE MADISON SQUARE, 
Ja/ictm of 5th Avenue and Broadway. 




E BEST ant MOST CENTRAL HOTEL ill tHe CITL 



ivenient to all Places of Amusement, 
and easy of access by all horse 
car and stage lines 

DARLIHG, GRISWOLD & CO., 

^rop-rtetoTs. 



iiTED States Life Inmice Co. 

IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

Home Office: 261, 262 & 263 Broadway, N. Y. 

Assets, S4, 846, 032. 64. Surplus, $800, 000. 00. 

ALL FORMS OF LIFE AND ENDOWMENT POLICIES ISSUED. 

Endowment Policies and Approved Claims due in 1878 will be 

discounted at 7 per cent, on presentation. 

C. P. FRALEIGH, Sec'y. JAMES BUELL, Pres't. T. H. BROSNAN, Sup't. 
THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF THIS COMPANY ARE 

ADsolute Security, Economical lanageoieat, and LiDerality to tlie insured. 

OPINIONS EXPEESSED B7 THE- INSUEANOB COMMISSIONEES. 

Hon. Stephen H. Rhodes, Commissioner for Massachusetts, Bays : 
" The United States Life is Sound to the core and in a very 
creditable and flourishing condition. No life company in this coun- 
try has ever been subjected to a more thorough and severe scrutiny. 
Its books, accounts, and collaterals, its policy liabilities and agency 
accounts, were gone into with a minute detail which left no room for 
the slightest concealment or misapprehension. Its mortgages were 
actually appraised, and notwithstanding the decline in the value 
of real estate, were found to afford the most abundant security, 
giving evidence of remarkable discernment and soundness of judg- 
ment in selection from this class of securities. As the company is 
perfectly sound, and can afford to challenge criticism, the etlect of 
the very thorough examination we have made will only be to increase 
its popularity, and confirm the confidence now reposeil in its man- 
agement. The movement will only serve to advertise the company 
and draw public attention to its solid condition." 

Hon.Wm. Smyth, Insurance Superintendent of New York, states : 
" The people may rely upon my report as a faithful and complete 
statement of the truth. A fortnight was spent in the examination, 
but the facilities afforded by the excellent system of the company 
enabled the examiners to prosecute their labors with rapidity. 
Everything was at hand, and nothing omitted or slighted. The 
commissioners went into the most minute details, and every 
particular was verified. The assets were rather under than 
overestimated. Their investments arc in the most compact form, 
and unexceptionally good. iQl their mortgages were appraised, 
and I waa agreeably surprised to find that these securities had 
suffered no depreciation in value. A masterly judgment seems 
to have presided over these investments. I feel that I have 
reason to congratulate the life insurance interest on the strictness 
of the investigation, because it has demonstrated the integrity and 
solid strength of this sterling old life corporation." 

Office, mu Bep'i, Drexel Bnlldmg, cor.Wall & Broaa sts. H. W. BALDWIN, Snpi. 



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